Redemption for a Weary Soldier
by Archaven
Summary: PaineXBaralai Paine has problems dealing with death, and Baralai has problems letting people see the real him. Can the two come together in the midst of tutoring the Ronso cubs Lian and Ayde, or will a strange new force tear them apart?
1. Chapter 1

A cool evening breeze danced across the sky bringing a feeling of light-heartedness to the twilight. The breeze mixed with the resounding buzz of people's drunken laughter gave Bevelle's city scene just the atmosphere of happiness and joy that usually accompanies victory parties of these sorts.

Except the feeling didn't reach one solitary soul.

Paine leaned into one of the darker shadows of the massive stonewall outside the main hall of Bevelle's temple. The draft ruffled her silvery hair, the physical feeling was the only emotion that touched the woman as the stared down into the golden glow of Bevelle's enormous sprawling expanse. Mere weeks had passed since the world of Spira had once again drastically changed forming new factions and rekindling old friendships. Rekindling, pah, Paine sarcastically harrumphed in her mind as she thought of how distant all of her "friends" had suddenly become. Gippal, now free from the task of trying to intermediate between Baralai and Nooj, had redoubled his efforts at digging up Spira's past in Sanubia's desert. The last Paine had heard (from Rikku who was joining her clan in the effort) was that some very promising ancient machina had been discovered in the Calm Lands and propositions were being put forward to start an excavation to evaluate the site. Paine "pah'ed" again under her breath. It would only be a matter of time before that too would become a tourist attraction.

Her thoughts turned to some of her other friends. Yuna wanted to travel again, but this time without unwelcome company (although the former summoner would never be so rude as to verbally imply that—it was an unspoken agreement that she would be reliving her pilgrimage from two years ago with her beau to find closure from the experiences before.) There were many souls and memories to be remembered, or so the summoner said.

But Paine had no wish to delve into the likes of the past. It was better to let it rest and just be. The recent episode with the revengeful spirit of Shuyin reaffirmed this already deeply rooted belief. Even Sin was merely a product of a mindset stuck in the mistakes of generations past. With the evidence so obvious to her eyes, Paine just didn't see the need to go poking around in painful places.

A sudden high-pitched squeal floated through the tall doors a few yards from where Paine leaned. Inside the hall soft candlelight illuminated mingling people, some speaking to each other for the first time in years, people dancing to the music provided by the now quite popular Macalania Woods group, people feasting on foods prepared from all over Spira, and of course, LeBlanc practically hanging from the arm of Nooj. The squeal had come from her, just as Paine had suspected and a sharp annoyance filled the bottom of her stomach. Obviously Nooj had just said something, which LeBlanc found overly amusing. Paine felt her teeth grinding just a tad too tightly as she coolly regarded the couple, so she diverted her gaze back to the serenity of the cityscape.

Suddenly at her side a shadow detached itself from the wall and the form of Baralai with his white-blonde mane and deep brown eyes accompanied Paine. "It is certainly a beautiful evening," he remarked in greeting.

"I have a hard time picking out beauty in a place shrouded in deceit and lies," she replied.

"Touché dear Paine, who was ever the eternal pessimist," Baralai returned with a shadow of a smile.

"You say that as if you knew me long ago," Paine noticed.

"You have become very distant as of late. I must admit, some of the others worry…"

"It is not I who am distant," Paine cut the former Praetor off. "Everyone else is leaving. Again. Yuna and Tidus, Gippal and Rikku, Yevon only knows where Nooj keeps himself these days. And you…"

"Are right here," Baralai finished with a grin. He gazed into the open doorway where Nooj and LeBlanc talked with a group of former New Yevonists, oh how times had changed. It seemed quite obvious from the possessive grip LeBlanc had latched around Nooj's muscular arm just where and with whom he had mysteriously located the past weeks.

Paine followed his gaze then quickly averted her eyes—a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Baralai. "What are you doing with yourself these new days?" Paine asked, quick to be on another subject before a touchier one could be pushed. "I've heard many conflicting rumors."

Baralai smiled. "Let me guess," he said tilting his head back and tucking his hands behind his neck. "Secretly organizing another faction of Yevon to boost my bruised ego? Making a pilgrimage to all the hidden temples to become possessed by more vengeful spirits? Or perhaps I am plotting to sabotage Gippal's excavation sites in an effort to discontinue the furthering of our knowledge of the past so that I can cover up all of my dirty little secrets."

Despite her nonchalant mood, Paine outright laughed. It was true; she had heard every single one of the suggested tales. To be quite honest, she wasn't really sure whether to believe them or not. She had always known that Baralai's polished exterior was simply a reflective mirror, and that deceptions lay underneath all of the former Praetor's liquid words. Yet in her travels and through learning of her own past, Paine had begun to worry about her friend's true nature. Even when Shuyin's presence wasn't lurking behind Baralai's hazel gaze he still halfway explained things, made vague references. What was he trying to hide?

"To be quite honest, I am still undecided on the subject myself. The people do not trust me anymore, so I don't want to present myself as a leader of any kind. I suppose I will do scribing work of some sort, I am just not sure where. I have decided it best to stay away from the temples for a while."

Paine nodded in understanding. The pair stood in a comfortable silence a few moments more, enjoying the evening quiet while the party raged on behind them.

"PAINE!"

A bubbling Al Bhed racing down the paved walkway to where the pair stood shattered the momentary serenity. "Paine!" Rikku squealed, "I've been looking all over for you! Yuna wants all of us to get together for a sphere recording! I guess she wants to have something to remind her of us while she's gone…Oh, good evening Praetor Baralai." Rikku halfway dipped into an awkward bow as her attention was drawn to the man concealed in the shadows of the wall.

"Please, Lady Rikku, it is only Baralai now. I am now longer affiliated with the temples." Baralai returned her bow with much more grace.

Rikku giggled nervously, not being used to such proper conduct, she was unsure how to act around the done up man. "I'm no lady, just Rikku please," she replied. She turned back to Paine, "So are you coming?"

"Why doesn't she just take us if she's going to miss us so badly?" Paine asked stiffly not moving from her guarded position.

"Now Paine, that's not being very fair," Baralai smoothly interjected when Rikku face dropped in bafflement and bewilderment at her friend's cool indifference. "Obviously she wants time to become reacquainted with her, ah, friend."

"Yeah, Paine, don't be such a meanie," Rikku snapped out of her shock and grabbed one of Paine's folded arms. She suddenly stopped and gave Paine a mischievous grin. "You aren't sphere-shy are you?" she asked mockingly. Paine snorted and Rikku laughed. "I knew it!" she exclaimed grabbing Paine's arm and giving her a mighty yank. "Come on you sissy let's go. I promise I won't let the big bad sphere eat your soul!"

Baralai chuckled and dipped his head toward Paine. "Your public awaits," he said with a smile. He hesitated—surprising Paine with the gesture, for Baralai was not a man to hesitate—and raised his hand in farewell. "Take care Paine, perhaps our paths will cross again."

A tightness filled Paine's chest. Was it possible that this was the last time she would glimpse the face of the man she once called friend? A knot arose in her throat—she had such a hard time with goodbyes—so she simply nodded at Baralai and quickly turned toward the building keeping a calm face and a cool demeanor as she strode in to "enjoy" the rest of the party while Rikku skipped along beside her.

"Spira to Paine, come in Paine!" Rikku waved a hand before the distracted warrior's face snapping her fingers and nearly poking Paine in the eyes.

"Stop that," Paine grabbed a hold of Rikku's arm and deflected the almost blinding blow.

"Oops," Rikku pulled back her hand. "Sorry, guess I'm kinda clumsy."

"Well that's nothing new," Paine retorted.

Rikku didn't seem phased by her former fellow Gullwing's insult. "So, Yuna and I were wondering Paine, you've been pretty much keeping to yourself the last few weeks, well, you always did keep to yourself so I guess it's kinda pointless to mention that…he he," Rikku chuckled sheepishly at Paine's bored look. "What I'm trying to ask, I mean what Yuna and I are trying to ask, as one sphere-hunter to another, or better yet, as one friend to another…"

"Is there a point to this babbling?" Paine cut in.

Rikku took on an uncharacteristically serious expression. "Paine, are you alright?" When Paine raised her brows in question, Rikku continued, "It's just that you've been, well, short with everyone these days, well, more than you normally are anyway. Yuna and I thought that you would be happy with the truth of your past revealed and resolved, but lately you've become closed off from everyone around you."

Paine didn't have a chance to respond. Suddenly a thick tanned arm was thrown around her shoulder and a body was pressed between her and Rikku. "Hey girls, picture time!" a staggering Gippal slurred out as he sagged in between Rikku and Paine's combined efforts to keep him up.

"Ha Ha!" a boisterous laugh materialized along with the form of the happy-go-lucky Tidus holding a spherecorder in his hand. "This is definitely a keeper!" he grinned as he recorded Gippal in his drunken stupor.

Ever since Tidus had been introduced to the top Al Bhed technician the two had become fast friends. Paine could see why. They both had a very relaxed and easy demeanor. They could turn any uncomfortable situation into a moment of laughter and easiness with the blink of an eye.

Gippal tried to raise himself onto both legs, but failed and drooped to the ground causing Rikku and Paine to lean with him. Paine rolled her eyes. Another thing the pair shared was a tendency to be overly annoying in any given situation. Like obviously trying to out-drink each other with the variety of cocktails floating throughout the sea of people.

"You guys!" another voice now joined the group from Paine's right and she titled her head, leaning forward so as to see around the bulk of Gippal's desert gear, to observe Yuna approaching with a spherecorder also in hand. "Tidus," she came beside the former guardian and placed both hands on her hips. "Have you gotten Gippal drunk again?" the disapproval in her voice was apparent.

"Come on Yuna, I swear he did it of his own free will," Tidus smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Really?" Yuna eyed him.

"Yeah, so maybe he thought we were in a little competition and that I was drinking also, but…" Tidus trailed off sheepishly looking down into Yuna's peeved expression. "Oh come on Yuna, now this is quality entertainment," he spread his arms dramatically at the figure of Gippal who was starting to drool.

"Oh my," Yuna commented and stepped back from the pile that had already accumulated on the floor before her feet. She covered her mouth to suppress a giggle. Turning forlornly back she declared, "Tidus, since you are responsible for his condition, you should take him back to his room. Any puking or whatnot will be your responsibility."

"Yes ma'am," Tidus mock-saluted. "Say, when did you become so authoritative?" he asked looking at her suspiciously.

"When you decided to act like a seven-year-old," she replied with a twinkle of mischief in her eye. "And, because you are responsible for Gippal's condition, you will also be responsible for explaining to Cid why his lead technician will be unable to perform his duties aboard the airship in the morning due to the massive overhang I'm pretty sure he will accumulate."

Tidus paled at the mention of the Al Bhed leader. "But, why do I have to tell Cid? He already doesn't like me, and I can't see how this will help."

But Yuna had already turned away from the golden-haired man and was watching her two friends; Rikku with one hand wrapped around Gippal's middle and the other clamped firmly over her mouth while crinkled eyes revealed the laughter she was trying to hide, and Paine…

Yuna frowned inwardly at Paine's obvious disinterest. Of course she was used to the cool demeanor her friend used when speaking to anyone, but this expression of pure…boredom, as if she wanted to be anywhere else except surrounded by the people she was currently enshrouded with, well, that was simply…rude.

Yuna shook her head. She was beginning to understand more and more just how resistant to change Paine really was. Back when they were still sphere hunters, the former summoner had compared the compassionate, almost open Paine that she saw in the sphere recordings to the silent stoic warrior steadily gazing out the window of the airship. At first she was confused by the personality change, but now it somewhat made sense. Paine couldn't handle the pain of being separated from her friends in the aftermath of the defeat of Sin and had withdrawn from the world around her. It appeared that she was now doing the same with the people around her. Yuna didn't understand why however, it wasn't as though they never expected to see each other again.

The smell of death clung to the air as a young Paine crept through the debris left in the wake of Sin. It was the first time the monster had ever attacked Luca, and only a small portion of the coast was affected: the portion where a seven-year-old Paine and her sister lived. She scanned the overcast beach and finally located the spot where her house used to occupy. Wooden beams and pieces of thatched roofs littered the ground as she tentatively stepped toward the mess. Remnants of her life were scattered all along the shoreline: pots and pans, broken dishes, old dolls, and pieces of her bed. She barely noticed the zombie-like expressions of the people around her as they haggardly dug through the ruins. Pyreflies floated in a massive cloud just above the wreckage, but Paine didn't look up at them. She was afraid of what she might see if she did.

She stopped short at the central wooden beam, connecting all of the houses together. It was toppled and broken in several places. Paine closed her eyes and took a slow, painful breath as the echo of a distant scream floated through the air. Mere hours ago this unearthly plea for life had been wrenched from the throat of her four-year-old sister, Sacrifice. Paine recalled the moment of her sister's demise, she was just beyond the girl's reach. Sin's power pushed over heavy objects like feathers. She had stretched out with her own too-small hand, but was still yards away from saving her sister's life. She could only watch from her sprawled position as the beam groaned, gave way, and slowly started tilting before gaining speed and hitting the ground with a great earthquake. She could only watch the terror surge through her little sister's beautiful blue-gray eyes as her last breath was stolen from her tiny body in a heartrending shriek. The beam crushed her body on impact.

Paine found a tiny hand reaching from beneath the pole, reaching toward the sister that could not save her, the sister who left her in her direst need, just as their parents had left them a year before. She sank to her knees and shed the first and only tears that would ever grace her cheeks in the entire span of her life as she stroked the lifeless hand.

Paine awoke gasping and sputtering. She was cold, very cold according to the coat of gooseflesh that encumbered her arms. She sat up from her bed in the massive chambers of Bevelle's mansion. It was Yuna's house, although the summoner hadn't lived there since she was taken to Besaid as a young child with the Ronso warrior Kimarhi. She drew the feathered comforters close to her chin and sat silently in the dark. Why had she woken so abruptly? Why was her breath so short and her heart running laps through her chest cavity? She had been dreaming, first of adventures with the Crimson Squad, normal and preferable, and then of her days as an orphan roaming Luca's streets, invisible to everyone, unusual and not very preferable at all. She didn't like thinking back on her joyless childhood days, but what memory could possibly spark this surge of emotion? She touched her cheek and expected to find tears trailing them, but found none. Of course. She never cried. Even being an unloved invisible child lost amidst the scramble of city life in Luca, she never shed one tear. Instead she persevered. And survived.

Paine shook her head and stood up letting the comforter slip off her shoulders. The goose bumps were already fading and her breathing was regulating itself. Obviously she just had a nightmare of some sorts. The last few months certainly had been quite an ordeal, for any person. Stoic as she was, she was still entitled to feel fatigued, right?

Something about the situation agitated the edge of Paine's mind, but she was groggy and in no mood to try and force herself to examine emotions that didn't exist. Instead, she decided to step outside and let the fresh air clear her senses. She exited the room and drifted down the hall absorbing the quiet of the house in comparison to the earlier din of the festivities in the ballroom.

She navigated through the labyrinth of halls with the ease of someone experienced to maneuvering them, when in fact, she had only been shown to her room once. Her friends had been correct in appointing her their "ship's" navigator—her sense of direction was excellent.

She opened an obscure door hidden behind the turn of a staircase, the gardener's entrance to the estate's gardens. The upkeep had only been minimally seen to, which explained its overgrown condition. Paine didn't mind, however. It reminded her of a secret wilderness retreat. She strolled through the cobblestone pathways overrun with wildflowers and lush grass growing between the cracks. The trees, not having been shaped in quite some time extended every which way reaching toward the starry night sky and the silver sphere of the moon.

Paine halted her trek and watched the sky. Faint wisps of clouds stained its velvet surface giving it the appearance of marble. "Lovely evening," a voice suddenly appeared at her side.

Nooj.

Paine glanced sidelong at the erect figure. "Couldn't sleep?" she asked him coyly.

"Could you?" he responded easily.

"No," Paine admitted and was silent.

The quiet extended a few moments more before Nooj offered, "The Lady Yuna suggested that I keep a room in the mansion until the morning when I leave."

"For where?" Paine couldn't help asking.

"Mushroom Rock."

"Ah," was Paine's monosyllabic reply.

"I didn't see you during the party," Nooj said after another lilt in the conversation.

"I didn't know you were looking," Paine responded.

Nooj smiled. "Why do like being invisible?" he asked.

"Why do you seek your death?"

"Sought," Nooj corrected looking off into the sleeping flowers. "I have learned the value of life just recently."

"And who, may I ask, was your tutor?" Paine asked, a tightness filling her chest. She didn't want to hear the answer.

Perhaps sensing her thoughts, Nooj merely gave a ghost of a grin and changed the subject. "Are you going to carry on with your sphere hunts?"

"No, I found the truths that I sought," she replied.

"Really?" Nooj asked doubtfully. "Yes, you certainly seem to be one with all of the answers—concealing your true nature from the whole world."

"And what would you know about my true nature?" Paine asked shortly.

"Nothing." Nooj's features softened. "Paine, there is some great despair deep within you…I wish I could help you heal it. I've never had siblings, but I suppose I wish to protect you the way an older brother might…"

"You are not my brother," Paine fairly snarled taken aback by the sting she felt from the comment.

Nooj merely chuckled. "No, I hardly qualify for anyone's familial status."

"I didn't mean that," Paine said softly lowering her head, a twinge of guilt working its way up from her stomach.

She sighed and raised her eyes to the heavens. "There was a time when I…well I was fond of you," she admitted.

"Yes, I know," Nooj answered softly.

"I knew who you were from the first day we met, and I wanted to reach you somehow. I felt like…like I had something to atone for. Like if I could save you it would be like saving another's life…" Paine chuckled. "Now I sound just like Rikku, babbling on like this."

Nooj placed a comforting hand on Paine's shoulder. She felt support in the touch but could not absorb it. "But I couldn't save you," she proclaimed, the realization dawning on her for the first time. "You were unreachable."

"I learned to save myself, just as you must do the same." Nooj looked Paine squarely in the eyes, but she couldn't hold his gaze. Instead she looked at the cobblestones as he continued, "Perhaps you felt drawn to me because we are similar. Both of us sought death, me physically, you emotionally. I had to learn to find strength within myself."

"But you didn't do it alone, you had someone there to help you."

"True," Nooj acknowledged.

"LeBlanc." It was the first time the woman's name had been mentioned between the two and the air crackled with the tension. Nooj didn't reply.

Another silence wove its way between the pair, but this absence of sound was pregnant with awkwardness. Paine lowered her gaze to her feet and Nooj followed suit. "Ah! What's this?" he asked gingerly leaning down while balancing his weight on his cane and carefully picking one of the flowers from his feet. The stalk was blue tinged and the petals were brilliantly white, almost crystalline in appearance and arranged in an overlapping manner so that you could only just glimpse the pollinated pale yellow center. "This flower is not from here, in fact, the only place I've ever seen a flower like this was on Mount Gagazet."

"I don't recall seeing any flowers," Paine had briefly explored the mountain peaks with Yuna and Rikku in their search for treasure spheres.

"They grow in a secluded areas that I discovered while training atop the peak before my Crimson Squad days. There were many places with the flowers that I often went to when in need of peace. You know, to clear my mind and listen to my thoughts."

Paine smirked. "Sounds like paradise," she replied.

"Yes, I made many important decisions atop that mountain. In fact…" he regarded Paine cautiously and then continued, "It would probably be the perfect place for someone who has lost their path. I'm not so sure how the Ronso are nowadays however, when I was younger they didn't mind youths coming to strengthen their bodies, but I hear they've become more protective of their territory as of late."

Paine didn't reply, mostly out of pride. After all, this was the man who had just somewhat rejected her feelings for him (even if they were feelings for a different broken man from almost three years ago), and she didn't really want him to see that she was even considering his suggestion.

But she had to admit, the thought was certainly alluring. She wasn't completely certain what it was that she wanted from life now, but the mere thought of the luxury of solitude left her with an unaccustomed anticipation.

"I am tired now," she suddenly declared, and the pair bid each other farewell before going their separate ways. Crawling back into her bed, Paine's mind was whirling through a steady onslaught of possibilities; every single thought singled on one subject:

Mount Gagazet.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

I'm not sure who's reading this, but if you are, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer:

I don't own Final Fantasy X-2 or any of the characters I've used.

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Chapter 2

"Paine, wakey wakey!" Rikku's too-cheerful voice split the calm of the morning as cleanly as any cleaver through fruit. Paine ignored the girl's insistent struggles to wake her and turned her body away from the annoyance.

"Come on, Paine, get up!" Rikku tried to wrench the covers from Paine's shoulders and earned a sound punch to the shoulder. "Ow!" Rikku exclaimed jumping back and sticking out her tongue at Paine as she gingerly rubbed the offended shoulder. "Meanie," she mumbled, but didn't give up her efforts. Instead, she picked up the decorative pillows stacked atop a silk lined chair and tossed them none-too-lightly right at Paine's head.

Paine made some noise of annoyance, and tried tossing the pillows back, but couldn't aim properly still being groggy with sleep. She gave in and rubbed her eyes as she sat up. "Why on Yevon's green world have you decided to wake me up when I obviously don't want to be woken?" she asked narrowing her quickly adjusting gaze on the perky Al-Bhed.

"We are going to go send Yuna off and if we don't leave soon we'll miss her. Besides, Pop's ready to shove off on the airship, and if we don't say our good-byes and shaky-shaky onboard, he will probably leave us behind and then we will have to walk all the way to the Calm Lands!"

"Do you always whine so much?" Paine asked drolly standing up and pulling the covers over the mattress. "No wonder Gippal broke it off, he probably didn't like the thought of being a mother at such a young age."

Rikku threw the pillow she was in the process of handing Paine squarely at the warrior's ear with all her might. "It was NOT like that," Rikku insisted a blush heating the whole of her face. "I don't even like that scum bag."

"Sure, and that's why you stayed in his room all night nursing him back to good spirits after his run-in with Tidus's bad spirits," Paine teased choosing her normal articles of clothing to go change into.

"I was just making sure that he didn't choke on his own vomit!" Rikku defended herself crossing her arms defiantly, but the blush grew stronger giving away her underlying feelings.

"Whatever," Paine muttered dismissing the subject. She was already disinterested with the topic.

She dressed and met Yuna and Tidus simply to please the rules of etiquette. In actuality she could have done without the goodbye at all. She absently watched as Rikku threw her arms around both Tidus and Yuna giving them both a hearty embrace and cheerful good tidings. When it was Paine's turn, she merely smirked and nodded.

Yuna didn't let that stop her from hugging the cold woman who only half-heartedly reciprocated the gesture. After several deep conversations with both Tidus and Rikku and having experienced her share of Paine's behavior, Yuna had made her peace with Paine's tendency to withdraw from painful situations. Why the parting, which certainly was not a permanent separation, was so hard on the woman, Yuna could only speculate.

"You take care now," Yuna whispered into Paine's ear as she withdrew her embrace. The older woman simply nodded and averted her gaze to a set of stairs perched beyond Yuna's shoulder. Yuna regarded her friend a moment longer before sighing and stepping back to join Tidus.

"Bye now," the blonde man waved a hand cheerfully and pointed at Rikku. "You make sure you watch that old drunkard," he said jokingly.

Rikku giggled and shooed the pair with her hand. "Go on. And don't worry about Gippal, he will be fine."

That seemed to satisfy Yuna and Tidus who turned and began their descent down the streets of Bevelle. Rikku turned back to Paine who was now looking at the ground. "Hey, you okay?" she asked lightly cuffing Paine on the shoulder. The warrior seemed to suddenly snap back into the real world and turned on her heel. "Hey! Where are you going? The airship's this way!" Rikku yelled to Paine's retreating back.

"I have to go attend to something," Paine replied elusively over her shoulder.

Rikku scratched the back of her head in confusion before placing both of her hands squarely on her hips. "Well, you'd better hurry. I'm not going to try stalling for you and if Pop's takes off without you…HEY! Are you even listening to me?"

"Do you always whine so much?" was Paine's reply before she rounded a corner and disappeared from Rikku's sight.

"That girl is some piece of work," Rikku mumbled thoughtfully as she wondered what Paine could possibly be doing before shrugging nonchalantly and heading off to where the airship was docked on the outskirts of Bevelle.

The garden looked different in the daylight. The morning sunlight revealed a place of less mystery and more shrubbery than what had appeared to Paine from the night before. She found Nooj at the same place that she left him. He smiled as she approached him and her heart twisted a little. She ignored the feeling.

"Good morning," Nooj said in welcome.

"And the same to you," Paine returned cautiously. She clasped her hands and slightly bowed her head pondering her words. "I suppose I want to apologize for last night," she eventually said. "I was tired and perhaps a little harsh and…"

"Cranky?" Nooj raised his eyebrows in amusement.

Paine rolled her own in response and cracked a genuine smile. "In any case I am sorry, I would not want us to part on bad terms."

This time it was Nooj who was bemused. "Bad terms? I can think of plenty other terms to describe last night besides that."

"Such as?"

"Pensive for one," Nooj said. "Perhaps there was a tinge of remorse on both our parts for what maybe might have been…" he paused and regarded Paine who suddenly found the ground very interesting. "Sorrow on my part for my inability to save you."

"Yet you said yourself that I must save myself," Paine responded.

"Yes I did, but it is still frustrating," Nooj replied.

Paine chuckled softly, "Now you understand how I felt."

Suddenly Nooj's features turned more serious as he said, "Paine, I am truly sorry that I couldn't be for you what you wanted me to be. You carry a very special place in my heart, you must know that and I…"

Paine held her hand up to his lips and cut off his sentence. "I am fine," she said. "I don't want our last conversation to carry the knowledge that I was almost good enough but not quite."

Nooj was effectively silenced and he stood for a long while studying Paine. "Is this truly to be our last conversation?" he asked.

That caught Paine off guard. "Is there a reason that it shouldn't?" she asked.

"Yes, you are my very dear friend Paine, with whom I have shared many bonding experiences. Do you want to simply throw away the friendship that we have been crafting for years?"

"But, it isn't me who is throwing anything away," Paine replied with a puzzled look. "You and Le Blanc have a new life that you will become involved in and there certainly won't be any room for myself."

"Paine, that is ridiculous. I would never cut you out of my life unless you removed yourself from it. Are you saying that you don't want anything to do with me?"

Paine's eyes widened slightly, then she lowered her gazed and her shoulders as the realization hit her. "I have been pushing away my friends, not the other way around," she breathed. Nooj placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps I don't understand the concept of goodbye," she offered reflecting back on her fierce determinedness to make goodbyes as painless as possible.

"Maybe you don't understand that goodbye isn't necessarily everlasting," Nooj suggested and Paine nodded slowly in agreement.

She raised her eyes and implored Nooj with her gaze, "How can I change my emotions?" she asked.

"Perhaps, if the term 'goodbye' brings you so much trouble, you should say something else in parting, something positive like 'until next time.'"

A voice tickled the edges of Paine's mind. Baralai's intense gaze suddenly appeared within her mind's eye. "Until our paths cross again," she said.

"Now you're catching on," Nooj ruffled her hair and she playfully jabbed him in the ribs.

"NOOJIE WOOGIE!" a shriek suddenly filled the peaceful afternoon and Paine groaned under her breath. _ Maybe she is really a good person, but I just can't get over that voice,_ she thought turning to watch as the former sphere hunter approached the pair.

"Noojie, we really should be going soon love…who have we here? Oh, aren't you one of those dullwings, oh sorry dear I mean GULLwings. Isn't your name Ouch or something?"

"It's Paine," the warrior responded coolly.

Le Blanc burst into her squeaky peals of laughter, "I know love, I was only kidding!" She leaned into Paine who was slightly confused. "Between you and me, I always did enjoy our little sphere hunting competitions. You really were worthy adversaries, it's just a pity that the Gullwings are no more, unless I've heard incorrectly?"

"No, you heard right," Paine replied seeing Le Blanc in a slightly less offending light. She glanced at Nooj before saying, "We are just temporarily parting ways."

"Temporarily, huh? Well, whenever you all decide to get together again, why don't you call me up and we can have ourselves a little sphere scramble, what do you say?"

Paine nodded in affirmation and sighed. "I suppose you two need to be going?"

Le Blanc studied Nooj. She placed a hand lightly on Nooj's arm and spoke a bit more softly, definitely easier on the ears. "Well, if we want to make it through the Thunder Plains by nightfall we should really be going, but you take all the time you need dear."

Paine watched the tender moment transpire between the pair. She saw how encouraging and supporting Le Blanc was, and how tenderly she stroked his arm. And Nooj soaked up her gaze like a starving animal. His own stare was engulfed in warmth. Paine suddenly felt a feeling akin to a deep peace stir within her soul. So they really were in love…

"Actually, I'm due on the airship right now. According to Rikku, her father will blow a fuse if we don't lift off soon. I just wanted to stop by and say," she looked directly at Nooj now, "that I look forward to the time when our paths cross again."

Nooj nodded and Le Blanc looked a little confused as she saw there was obvious meaning behind the words. She still beamed nevertheless. "You take care love, and tell that blonde Al-Bhed man to tone it down a bit on the dramatics," Le Blanc said of Brother and Paine snorted under her breath. Like Le Blanc was one to talk about histrionics…

Nooj reached over and ruffled Paine's hair again. "I want you to take care of yourself, understand?" Paine nodded and he leaned back on Le Blanc. "Until we meet again?"

"Yes, when we meet again," Paine replied.

The scene Paine walked in on upon entering the bridge of the airship could only be related to chaos. Rikku and Cid were yelling at each other, Brother was doing jumping jacks in the middle of the pair, Shinra was practically hunched over his computer screen obviously trying to ignore the tiff, and a lone Al-Bhed blitzballer ran laps around the deck stopping occasionally to lean over and stretch out his muscles. Apparently he had confused the bridge for an exercise room. Paine took a place a little left of the door and settled down to watch the ensuing battle.

"It wasn't his fault!" Rikku insisted waving her hands wildly in the air to give her declaration emphasis.

"How the hell can you say it isn't his fault when he's the one with a hangover? What, are you going to tell me someone tied him down, pried his mouth open and poured the drink down his throat?" Cid responded in his boisterous tone.

Ah, so they were arguing about Gippal. This should be interesting, Paine thought to herself.

"Tidus tricked him, he said that he would give Gippal a million gil if he out drank him!" Rikku said frantically.

"AHA! So you admit that Gippal drank in a competition, therefore wasting himself and costing our mission his skills as a map reader!"

"Oh, get off it Pops, it's not like he's out for good," Rikku snorted crossing her arms.

"He-ey!" Brother shouted hopping in between the confrontation. "Hey! This is my ship and so this is my mission!"

"SHUT UP!" both Rikku and Cid yelled in unison.

"Who's to say he won't pull a stunt like this again?" Cid asked resuming his argument with his daughter.

"But Tidus isn't here, so Gippal won't have an incentive to drink!" Rikku reasoned.

"Like hell he won't have a reason!" Cid retorted throwing his own arms in the air.

"THIS IS MY SHIP AND I ORDER BOTH OF YOU TO LISTEN TO ME!" Brother jumped in circles now reminding Paine of a hyper active dog.

"SHUT UP!" Cid and Rikku shouted with shuch force that Brother shrank back.

"There is no need for all this yelling," he mumbled before harrumphing and stomping back to his "captain's" seat at the helm.

Already bored with the tittering, Paine stepped down the stairs to the center of the bridge where the illumination of a sphere cast a blue glow on the floor beneath it. White lines circled the globe and tiny pinpricks of various colored lights danced around the surface. Upon closer inspection, Paine read the ghost of an inscription written in Al-Bhed flashing around the middle. It said, "Spira," and a part of the world was boxed with another label reading "Calm Lands." Paine touched the Calm Lands box zooming in on the point.

Suddenly the blue shifted from one solid shade of blue to various shades, which Paine instantly recognized as variations in the level of the land. _ Hm,_ Paine pondered lightly tracing one finger over the lines formed by the many crags scattered along the Calm Lands' surface. _ This must be the spot where the Al-Bhed rest area is located…and this must subsequently be the area where the Cave of the Stolen Fayth lies…but I wonder what all of these different colored lights are? _

Bringing her hand thoughtfully up and resting her chin along her knuckles, Paine thought, _ Well, the lights lie in the same spots where the fiend games are located…could these lights be an indication of the different levels of fiends? _Paine frowned thoughtfully as she considered the spot where Clasko's chocobo farm emitted a tiny orange glow. _ Is it people that the lights are indicating?_ she wondered and then frowned seeing more lights in the canyon between the main Calm Lands and the peninsula where the Cave of Stolen Fayth was. As far as Paine knew, that area of land was uninhabitable, and even if there was the odd hermit down there, she doubted that a whole colony of people lived down there as the brilliant red dot indicated. _Well then, what do both fiends and people share? _

She released her gaze from the map and glanced outside into the cloudy morning. The morning sunlight hit the cloud in just a way that they emitted a radiant array of colors along the edges of the glass of the airship. The display reminded her of a cloud of pyreflies…

"Oh," Paine murmured quickly switching her focus back to the screen. _So the lights are different levels of pyreflies…why would the Al-Bhed want a map showing how many pyreflies are concentrated in one area?_

Suddenly the piercing shriek of a whistle shattered Paine's thoughts as Buddy strode on deck. "What is going on here?" Buddy asked of the still bickering crew.

"Those two are trying to take over MY ship!" Brother suddenly snapped over the backrest of his seat and pointed an accusing finger at Rikku and Cid who both glared at him.

"Well, she is trying to defend that drunk ass, sorry excuse of an Al-Bhed for failing to do his job!" Cid retorted sticking his own finger in Rikku's direction.

"And HE is trying to throw Gippal off the ship for something that isn't even entirely his fault!" Rikku argued jamming her own finger into Cid's barrel of a chest.

"Okay, okay, let's just calm down here," Buddy waved an exasperated hand over the pair. "Brother, you know that Cid was just lending us the airship for the time being," Buddy addressed Brother first who suddenly donned a crestfallen face and huffily turned back around in his seat, making a big show of plopping back down. "Cid, you know that we need all the help we can get, you can't afford to completely get rid of Gippal."

"So I'm just supposed to pansy on up to him and say, 'Oh don't worry about shirking your responsibilities boy, just go on back to your duties and don't let it happen again?'" Cid's face became red with boiling anger, "And then what, am I just suppose to give him a light slap on the hands and a small pinch on the butt?"

"I am not saying that," Buddy responded hardly affected by Cid's growing temper. "You have every right to punish him, just don't completely throw him from the job. Make him do hard labor or something, you know how Gippal likes to believe that he's above digging in the dirt, he'll hate every minute of it."

The thought of lowering Gippal to the status of any other low wage amateur digger seemed to appease Cid's anger. "Maybe…" he sulkily replied.

"But, who will read the maps?" Rikku interjected on Gippal's absent behalf.

Everyone turned expectant eyes over to Shinra who was still hunched over his computer frantically typing away. When he felt the eyes of everyone in the room on his back, Shinra froze in his task, and slowly swiveled around in his chair. He gazed out onto the faces with his eerie one-way stare behind his odd looking mask. "Don't look at me," he said with finality, "I'm just a kid."

Everyone facefell at that until Buddy said, "Well, I don't think we'll need Shinra after all, it looks like we've got ourselves another map reader here already."

Everyone switched their gaze to the map in question and found one Paine engrossed in thought as she studied its surface, lightly touching some places and going back to her thoughtful frown.

Feelings the multiple eyes on her back, Paine looked up with and glared at the conspiring gazes focused on her. "Hey, Dr. P, can you actually read that map?" Rikku asked stepping closer to Paine and bending down looking sideways at the stoic warrior.

Paine took another nervous look around at the greedy eyes of the people in the bridge. "No," she lied.

Rather badly.

Feel free to email me with any comments or whatnot. Actually, if you don't have any comments feel free to email me anyway. I need an email buddy.

…so

…lonely…

Oh, and please leave a review!


	3. Chapter 3

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Disclaimer: Don't own FFX2 or its characters

Chapter 3

The Calm Lands slept the deep and nourishing sleep of an infant. Stars crawled above the land in a dizzying pattern orchestrated around the moon that glowed palely onto the dimly lit ground. One lone lupine's howl descended across the grassy plain oozing its eerie melody along the gentle slopes and dips of the ground. Quiet blanketed the atmosphere encompassing the camp-grounds of the small Al-Bhed party gathered along the edge of a deep canyon. On the other side of the canyon lay the Cave of the Stolen Fayth.

One little bird sat perched on the edge of the canyon. All the rest of the land might be sleeping, but this little bird was hungry, and it wanted a big bug to chomp on right then. Cocking its head, the bird looked down into the abyss. Even its sharp gaze couldn't penetrate the inky blackness of the downward descent.

But this little bird had a few brains in its head and it put them to work coming up with a fairly sound solution: bugs liked deep dark places to live and the bird wanted a bug to eat. So in it plunged.

At first, the voyage went fairly well and the bird thought nothing of what possible dangers he could be placing himself into as he careened headlong to the bottom of the gorge. It wasn't until the sky was swallowed whole by the canyon wall and a chilling draft told the bird that the bottom was nowhere near when the bird began to realize his mistake.

Poor bird.

A glitter of red glowed eerily from the gaze of a nearby Divebeak as it watched its prey flutter along. The bird of prey sprang from its branch and cleanly caught the smaller bird in its talons. Using its beak, it brutally gouged out the eyes of the creature before twisting the body until first a wing came undone and then the belly opened up from the sheer force of the Divebeak's wrenching.

The poor little bird was still alive as its innards descended to the bugs crawling below…

(AN: I promise I'm not a sadist…not much of one anyway…)

Rikku brought a hand up to wipe her sweating brow. For the thousandth time that day, her nimble fingers danced over the clips and cords keeping her small frame from tumbling into the blackness below. She gingerly yanked and prodded the main cords, the backup cords, and the backup's backup cords. When she ran another hand across her forehead, the sheen of moisture seemed less of an overworked layer of sweat, and more a clammy nervous sweat.

Light from overhead suddenly spilled onto her body illuminating hands that she'd only caught glimpses of since moving out of the skylight blocked by the high wall of the gorge. She squinted to the pair of boot-clad feet dangling inches above her head lighting up the bottom half of her climbing partner.

"You alright there?" Gippal asked. His own face was layered in sweat and smudged with dust and dirt from the wall. Rikku could only imagine what a sight she must've been.

"Yeah, I'm good," she replied coiling a length of rope around her shoulder. "Let's just rest for a minute alright?" she asked planting her feet into a few rocks jutting from the wall and leaning against it to let her weight rest on it.

"Wonder how far down this canyon is?" Gippal mused precariously dangling his legs in the air. He didn't bother taking as much weight as possible off the ropes. Wrenching a rock free from the wall, he tossed the pebble into the dark and both he and Rikku held their breaths listening for it to hit the bottom. After several minutes they gave up. "Guess we'll be here a while, how much supplies we got?" he asked and Rikku swung her bag around her shoulder to check. "Four days worth, I think," she responded counting the food partitions blindly with her hands.

"Hopefully this canyon doesn't go down for two days…" Gippal said half to himself. A silence ensued between the pair as they contemplated scaling the rocky surface for that length of time.

"Pops is probably just about ready to throw himself off the cliff by now," Rikku commented. "It's been almost five hours already."

"I don't think anyone anticipated the canyon to go down this far," Gippal replied in agreement. "Heck, the edge of the Calm Lands goes down roughly one mile, but I've got this kinky feeling that we've traveled much further than one mile." Rikku nodded in concurrence although it couldn't be seen.

Another pause occurred while the pair rested. Suddenly Gippal started chuckling. "What's so funny?" Rikku demanded.

"Nothin," Gippal replied, "I was just thinking about your old man getting so uptight about us being gone for so long."

"And how is that funny?" Rikku asked.

"Shoot, I bet he's more worried about what _we're_ doin down here than whether we got hurt or anything," Gippal responded laughing.

"Yeah…well, he knows how you're perverted and I'm his little girl, so it's only natural that he'd worry." Rikku sniffed. "In any case whether he was worried or not there's no need to be. I could kick your ass all over this canyon if you so much as look at me wrong."

Gippal laughed a little louder at Rikku's declaration. "This coming from the girl whose life is connected to the safety clip connected to my harness."

Rikku reached up and playfully punched Gippal's boot making him sway slightly. "Forget it. If you did anything like that, then you might as well make yourself nice and comfy down here because Pops would probably pull your testicles up through your mouth from the inside out. Very slowly."

This earned Rikku another sound laugh from Gippal. "Where'd you get such a potty mouth from?" he asked and Rikku merely shrugged her unseeable shrug again.

"Paine," she responded simply.

"Ah, now that makes perfect sense." Gippal stretched and leaned back a little farther in his harness swing. "Well, whatever Cid did to me, as long as he doesn't kick me off this mission, I'll live."

"Say Gippal," Rikku said in her suddenly tiny voice. "Um…well, sorry I guess, about havin to do all this manual labor. I really tried to explain to Pops that it wasn't your fault, but you know how stubborn he can be."

Gippal was thoughtful for a moment. "You know," he said, "I really don't mind."

"You don't?"

Rikku felt him shake his head as the rope swung back and forth lightly with his actions. "Paine's doing a good job of reading those maps of mine. And besides, it's funny, but I'm almost kind of glad that it happened."

"W…Why's…that?" Rikku asked feeling her lungs constrict and the heat rise to her face.

"I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to dig, you know? To do the hands on things, to be the first person to find something that could prove significant. It's really a rush for me, but I'd forgotten how much I'd enjoyed it whenever I was left in charge of everything."

"Oh…" was Rikku's disappointed reply.

"And besides," Gippal said playfully, "I wouldn't get so much time to hang out with Cid's girl!" Reaching down, he ruffled said girl's hair. "Gross! Your hair's totally full of sweat!"

"Hey! Meanie!" Rikku answered and pulled back her arm for another punch, but froze when a noise to their left suddenly grabbed her attention.

Both the Al-Bhed quickly illuminated the spot in question with their lighted headgear. "Wha…?" was Rikku's response to what they saw.

A lone Divebeak clung to the wall of the canyon. Its beady red eyes rested on the pair and never twitched, even as its beak opened and shut and one of its talons jerked and yanked at something. "What's it got?" Rikku whispered feeling very uneasy about the fiend's continuous stare.

"I think it _was_ a bird," Gippal answered.

"So why'd it come all the way down here just to eat a bird?" Rikku asked.

Gippal was silent a few moments as he took in the scene. "That's weird…" he murmured under his breath.

"What's weird!" Rikku frantically asked beginning to feel uneasy by the situation.

"Well, if you watch it, it isn't _eating_ the bird, just tearing it apart. Since when did fiends become so…sadistic?"

"Who cares, we should just go," Rikku said in a slightly hysterical voice. That fiend's gaze was really starting to freak her out.

"Yeah, I guess," was Gippal's response.

"Okay then, let's just—" Rikku's sentence was cut off by a flurry of wings as the Divebeak suddenly shot straight at her.

Rikku squealed and held up her arms, just managing to fend off an assault to her eyes where the fiend was heading with its razor sharp talons. She earned two gashes on the sides of her arms. Ignoring the cuts, Rikku reached for the only weapon available: a flare pistol, which she shot at the fiend. Her aim was terrible, however because of the wounds on her arms and the flash of light sailed right over the bird and up toward the outside world.

Meanwhile, Gippal reached for his own weapon, a real gun this time and tried to sight the bird to aim. To his dismay, he realized that the fiend's talons had somehow become tangled in the small length of cord connecting Rikku and himself. If he shot at the Divebeak, there was a possibility that he would also shoot Rikku and that was a chance he was _not_ willing to take.

Rikku fumbled with her gear while holding one arm above her head to shield her sensitive face. The Divebeak was in the process of alternating between snapping at Rikku's flailing hand and trying to free its leg from the cord it was tangled in.

And then, many things happened instantaneously.

The Divebeak, with all of its struggling finally managed to tear through the rope with its sharp claws.

Rikku raised her eyes from her frantic task of trying to find her rapier and was soundly whacked over the head by one of the Divebeak's wings.

Gippal, finally able to discern fiend from Rikku, shot point blank at the Divebeak's head and the fiend immediately exploded in a flourish of pyreflies.

Looking down to check on Rikku, he was just in time to see the rope connecting them snap after being severed by the bird's claws.

He could only gape in horror and watch as the unconscious girl was near to him one moment and rapidly flying away from him the next.

"RIKKU!"

"DAMNIT! WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE TWO!" Cid's angry red head rivaled that of a tomato as he storm about the bridge in a fit of rage. "They've been gone for over five hours! There's no way that it takes so long to climb down a wall and back up!"

"Hey Cid, just calm down. Maybe they've already found some machina parts and are trying to bring it back up with them," Buddy reasoned from his station.

Cid just grew angrier at that comment. "That wasn't what they were ordered to do! I told them to climb down and measure the depth then climb back up! If they aren't following MY orders then they sure as hell don't need to be doing MY missions!"

"You mean MY mission!" Brother raised a defiant fist into the air. When Cid shot him a glare that could melt diamond, Brother paled and quickly sat back down.

As Cid continued his ranting, Paine studied her maps taking and processing the information she was shown. For three weeks now, this was her life. She didn't mind sitting around; the map reading was a challenge. It was her job not only to process the information, but to interpret it as well. This wasn't easy considering she was seeing pyrefly concentrations and not what the pyreflies were connected to. That was up to her elucidation.

For the last two hours, she had been studying the map, particularly the area where Rikku and Gippal had descended. It was strange how the more time passed, the more concentrated the area's pyreflies became. At first she dismissed this as Gippal's and Rikku's own life force being added to whatever was down there (probably the random fiend or some unsent soul who had accidentally fallen down the gorge's depths), but when the area began growing, well, exponentially as far as Paine could tell, she became worried.

"Incoming transmission!" Buddy shouted and leaned over his station. "Some of our boys reported seeing a light coming out of the canyon…they're reporting it as a flare someone set off from below."

All the redness drained from Cid's face upon hearing that. "I want all able-bodied hands to grab their climbing gear and get down that hole pronto!" Cid snapped not missing a beat. Buddy relayed the order and Paine frowned in thought. Her gaze wandered back over to the map and she gaped in surprise. A moment before, the pyrefly concentration had been at a mild yellowish-green. Now the concentration was a blood red.

Something was down there.

And so was Rikku and Gippal.

Paine didn't waste any time as she hastily rose from her seat and fairly dashed to her quarters. She barely managed to catch Cid's exclamation of surprise ("Hey! Where do you think you're going?") as she ran to her rooms and grabbed her garment grids, fastening them to her belt and running back down the corridor to the airship's exit.

She never broke stride as she scooped up a discarded light sphere and jogged over to the edge of the cliff where a throng of Al-Bhed were busy tying lengths of cords to harnesses, which they fastened around their legs. The workers were stopped short in their tasks as Paine suddenly disappeared in a brilliant flash of light seemed to grow giant wings and legs of steel.

Donned in her Full Throttle sphere, Paine plummeted from the edge of the cliff into the blackness below.

"Damnit," Gippal cursed under his breath as he scraped his knee against another jutting rock in his haste to shimmy down. He barely noticed the pain, but cursed the time wasted because of it. One thought dominated his mind as he continued his downward descent.

Rikku.

He vowed to retrieve her…whatever her condition.

Despair filled his heart when he considered just how he might find her, but he forcibly pushed the thoughts away. Sorrow couldn't cloud his mind right now when he needed to be in full control of all his facilities. It might take him days to reach the bottom, heck, he probably wouldn't even be able to make it back up once he got down because the supply of food had scattered with Rikku when she had fallen. None of that mattered now though. All that mattered was reaching Rikku. Wherever that might be…

"SHIT!" he howled his grief to the silent canyon when his arm rammed another rock. He could feel the rivulet of blood traveling down his skin. He ignored the discomfort and lowered his foot down blindly scrambling for another foothold lower than the one he was on. Finding one, he backed his body up slightly and tried to lower himself, but found that he couldn't.

Looking up, he shined his light on the source of the problem and found to his dismay that a coil of the rope had become wrapped around another protruding rock, this one longer and sharper than the previous ones.

Punching a fist into the wall in frustration, Gippal cursed under his breath as he prepared himself for climbing back up to untangle the rope. In his haste, he grabbed the wrong handhold and slipped backward putting all of his weight onto the cord. He tried to keep himself from swinging wildly by planting his feet, but alas, his footholds weren't the sturdiest ones and his grip left him. He slammed miserably into one side of the canyon wall before bouncing back and slamming into the other one.

The friction from his movement caused the rope to tighten along the jagged edge of the rock it was coiled onto. It didn't take much before rope strained and then snapped and Gippal found himself in Rikku's predicament as he tumbled backwards into the black abyss too.

Sorry for the major cliffhanger, but I plan on jumping straight into the next chapter starting…tomorrow morning after I get some sleep!

Thanks so much ColdhardPaine85, Paine3, and x-Storm-Goddess-x for reviewing! You guys are angels! Sarah, this one's for you! Thanks for getting my butt into gear!

Please leave a review, they make me want to write more!


	4. Chapter 4

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2 nor its characters.

Rikku awoke with a start and groggily studied her surroundings. She panicked upon discovering that she had no surroundings; blackness encompassed her whole body. She tried to remember where she was and what she was doing when the memories hit her like a solid wall. She groaned and gingerly felt the back of her head where she had been swatted by that Divebeak's wing.

She still felt disoriented and the total darkness wasn't helping her reach her bearings. She tried to find the ground with her hand because surely she had tumbled to the bottom of the canyon. She swung her arms about her body gingerly at first and then with more vigor as she realized there was no ground of which to speak of around her.

She was floating in thin air.

She tried feeling for the supplies in her bag at her back and wasn't shocked upon finding it missing. It probably fell away from her when she dropped. She felt around her pockets for the spare flash sphere but couldn't find that either. _Which direction am I facing?_ She wondered as her hair seemed to be going every which way and her blood was pretty evenly spread throughout her body as far as she could tell. Or at least, it wasn't rushing to her head.

She pondered her options as she floated and came up short. She moaned under her breath as she faced the helplessness of her situation. She had no idea where she was, she had no food or water, she couldn't see, she was floating in the air as far as she could tell…

"Maybe I'm…dead?" Rikku guessed surprising herself by her own voice.

A dim light suddenly appeared from her right. It flickered slightly before rapidly gaining strength. "H-hello?" Rikku stammered before trying again in a stronger voice. "Is anybody there?"

The light was suddenly directed at her and she heard the most wonderful sound she could ever imagine at that possible moment. "Rikku!"

"Gippal! I'm over here!" she shouted.

"Can you come toward my light?" he asked. She considered how to accomplish this feat and began wagging her arms in awkward swimming-like strokes accomplishing absolutely nothing.

"I can't move!" Rikku yelled back in a panic.

"It's okay!" Gippal tried reassuring her. "I'm close to the wall. I think…if I…"

Rikku watched as the light bounced wildly around before steadily moving closer. Before long, she could see bits of Gippal's body as he pulled himself closer holding onto the rocky surface and forcing himself over inch by inch. When he was close enough to her, he reached out an arm, which she accepted eagerly and he pulled her to the wall, right into a crushing embrace.

Rikku dissolved into tears. "I was so…alone," she sobbed into Gippal's shoulder as he held her tight.

"I…I thought you…" he whispered and Rikku sniffed looking into his face. The world started spinning as she contemplated just how close to death she had come. She buried her head into Gippal's shoulder shivering as the feelings of terror washed through her body.

They stayed that way for several minutes until Rikku gained control of her emotions once again and was able to pull back. Gippal seemed reluctant to release her. "Where are we?" she asked in a timid voice keeping one hand planted firmly on Gippal's shoulder lest he should suddenly disappear.

"I'm pretty sure we fell," was Gippal's reply.

"The last thing I remember was getting hit by that Divebeak and I must've lost consciousness. Then I woke up and I realized I was floating," Rikku filled him in.

"I was awake whenever I fell," Gippal informed her. "I didn't fall very far either. Probably only a few hundred feet. It was like I was gaining speed…and then gradually losing speed until I came to a stop."

"Should we try climbing down to the bottom?" Rikku asked.

"I don't know…what if this…whatever it is only lasts for a few feet and we end up really dropping the rest of the way? I don't know that I'm willing to risk it."

"Then…what do we do?" Rikku asked timidly. Gippal didn't reply.

The flash sphere flickered to life as Paine swooped down descending hundreds of feet in seconds. Nothing unusual stood out in the glow of the orb; there was the rocky surface of the canyon wall to her right and more darkness expanding to her left and down below and above her. As she made her mad dash for the bottom, she kept her eyes glued to the wall, specifically to the rope dangling down its length. Rikku and Gippal's rope. She had touched it a while ago and felt her heart flutter when it easily yielded. There was no anchoring weight of a body down below which meant…

Because she was gliding on her steely feathers, Paine had to descend in a zigzagged pattern giving her a slight headache when coupled with the continuous drop in elevation. Yet still she persisted, forcibly shoving away the pain along with the grief that was multiplying within her heart.

Despite the physical exertion, she felt her mind wander, a feat she had conditioned into herself during her childhood days roaming the streets of Luca. As an orphan, one had to think on one's feet. She let her mind roam through the realm of possibilities as she fell thinking back to the map and the cloud of ever reddening pyreflies. So far, Paine had yet to encounter one fiend meaning that unless there was a whole colony of fiends that all of a sudden decided to migrate to the bottom of the gorge (a probable but not very likely possibility), then something else must be connected to the pyreflies.

Paine went over the facts in her mind as she flew. Pyreflies were connected to the life force, or more specifically, the soul, which migrated to the Farplane once the physical body died. Was there something connected to the souls of both humanity and fiends that could somehow detach itself from the soul?

_Hmm…_

The answer scratched and itched at the edges of Paine's consciousness and she desperately tried to reach for it, but it eluded her grasp. She sighed into the darkness below as she gave up. Trying to pull the answer from her mind would only make it harder to find, but if she allowed it to come naturally, she knew it would surface faster.

She sighed again in defeat and nearly collided into Rikku's head.

"Okay Rikku, this is what we're going to do," Gippal said after the pair had thought for ten minutes straight of ways out of their predicament. "You climb up the wall, and when we reach the rope, we'll climb up out of this hellhole."

"Uh Gippal? You uh, positive that'll work?" Rikku asked a little nervous about the prospect of climbing without the assurance of a rope to catch her lest she fall.

"Yeah," was his reply and Rikku could almost hear the roguish look on his face when he said, "Besides, it's not like anything'll happen to us if we fall. We've already kind of established that.

Rikku wanted to responded smartly to that comment but kept her mouth closed. The pair inched their way over to the place where Gippal had fallen. Flashing his sphere light overhead Gippal ah ha'ed in triumph as the rope seemed to wave at them with all its swaying.

"Okay," Gippal instructed, "I've gotta turn off the flash sphere now, but if you climb straight up, we should reach the rope without a hitch then we can connect our harnesses and climb out of here."

"A…alright," Rikku replied slightly timid with the idea of climbing in complete darkness. "But Gippal, why do I have to go first?" she asked in a whiny tone.

"So I can have a good view of course," Gippal responded and laughed when Rikku glared at him with flaming cheeks. He took on a more serious tone as he added, "Besides, if you fall I want to be able to catch you this time."

His last comment didn't help extinguish the fire burning below her neck, so Rikku quickly started her climbing to avoid his observance and following comments. The pair steadily climbed higher with Rikku cautiously bringing her hands up to find solid handholds and then directing Gippal with her voice. He would bring his own hand up and feel where her foot rested and would wait until she lifted that foot before using that foothold as a handhold. They continued this slow but effective process for fifteen minutes before Rikku stopped.

"What is it?" Gippal asked in apprehension.

"There's something up there," Rikku responded quietly forgetting about the Al-Bhed man and nearly crashing into him as she tried backing down.

"Woah, easy there," Gippal said as he fumbled with his pocket trying to recover the flash sphere.

Rikku heard a rustling and gasped. She clutched the rapier that she had fastened to her waist before ascending and waited for Gippal to ignite the flash spear so she could see what it was that she was up against. Suddenly, the area surrounding Rikku's head was illuminated and Rikku shrieked at the huge steely shadow hovering inches from her scalp.

The beast jerkily pulled back upon perceiving Rikku's screams and Rikku found herself face-to-face with a slightly perturbed Paine donned in her Full Throttle dress sphere. "Paine!" the small Al-Bhed squealed and practically threw herself at the hovering warrior.

"Woah," Paine had to beat her huge wings twice as fast to try and compensate for the added weight.

"Well, well, look who finally came to lend a hand," Gippal droned from his position beneath Rikku.

Paine pulled back from Rikku's embrace and regarded the dirt-streaked pair. "Why aren't you both dead?" Paine asked with a flat voice and cold eyes.

"There's this…force down there," Gippal replied looking over his shoulder into the blackness below. "When we fell, some kind of…I don't know, I can't explain it. It was like being caught in a spider's web. We couldn't move ourselves on our own power, but when we used the wall, we got around rather easily."

Paine was silent as she listened. Her gaze was focused below her feet. When she looked up, there was a finality to her gaze. "I'm going down there," she declared.

Rikku and Gippal looked at each other uneasily. All Rikku wanted to do was get the hell out of that place. But looking at Gippal's longing expression, she knew she was already defeated in the matter. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Alright, let's go."

The trip back down didn't take as long, mostly because Paine had nestled her flash sphere in between the fold of her right wing and so the trio was constantly bathed in light. Paine had taken to shoving the tips of her steel wings into the rock wall and lowering herself down whenever she made another hole with the opposite wing. Rikku and Gippal felt a lot more comfortable about their descent mainly because they didn't fear the perils of falling and breaking all the bones in their bodies.

When they reached the spot where they had floated, Rikku pulled slightly back away from the wall to demonstrate to Paine what Gippal had been talking about. Paine observed the anomaly silently and then continued in her descent.

Being the bigger of the three, Paine made it to the bottom first. "I've landed," she called up to the other two.

"Alright! Solid ground!" Rikku yelled in enthusiasm. She jumped away from the wall and was quite surprised when no invisible force stopped her fall. She landed squarely on her tailbone. "Owwee," Rikku groaned rubbing her offended backside as she stood.

She joined Paine's side and the two waited for Gippal to finish his climb down. Having more sense than Rikku, Gippal climbed down the appropriate way and only hopped down from the wall when he was an arm's length from the bottom. "So I guess I was right," he commented. "The force only extends so far down before it loses its effect."

"Yeah well, that's great and everything, but where do you suppose it came from?" Rikku asked.

Gippal only shrugged. Paine meanwhile had already started exploring the bottom of the gorge. "Hey! Paine wait up!" Rikku yelped when she noticed the warrior's retreating back.

She and Gippal ran after her. Gippal had recovered his own flash sphere and was observing their surroundings. The bottom of the gorge pretty much looked like the rest of the canyon: rocky, dirty, dark, and dank. The ground was uneven and Rikku and Gippal had to constantly watch their feet to make sure they didn't trip. Paine meanwhile didn't worry about the bumpy earth as she simply glided from spot to spot.

Rikku became uneasy when after half an hour of searching the party found nothing. There was not a fiend to speak of, there were no bones from unfortunate souls who happened to take a wrong step up on the surface, and there was definitely no reason for the immense pyrefly concentration that showed up on the map.

_But maybe I spoke too soon…_ Rikku thought as a glimmer from her right caused the Al-Bhed's head to twist in that direction. She gasped slightly at her discovery. Reaching out, she caught the sleeve of Gippal's shirt and dragged him over to the spot of her discovery manipulating the hand holding the flash sphere so that she could get a better look at her findings.

"Look at this Gippal!" Rikku said in amazement. "Hey! Paine! Stop, we found something!" Rikku called ahead to Paine's oblivious back. The warrior turned to see what Rikku's fussing was all about.

It appeared to be some half buried ancient machina, very complex by the looks of it. Rikku and Gippal were already evaluating its external shell while discussing its possible uses and debating the wiring functions. While the mechanic experts discussed the machina amongst themselves, Paine stood back slightly. She understood how to work a mechanical lift and mastered the complexities of sphere recording, but she was by no means capable of seeing a bit of metal and determining its use as well as how to get it to work.

"Look, here's an outline of something," Rikku pointed out. "Maybe it's a hatch or something."

Gippal nodded and traced the outline. It ended in a layer of dirt. He grabbed Rikku's dagger and chipped away at the packed dirt with it. Soon the whole outline was revealed. Rikku studied it, hand under chin. "There has to be some way to open this," she murmured running her hand over the surface. Her middle finger brushed over an indention and the door opened effortlessly.

Both Rikku and Gippal crouched down and directed the beam inside. Swirls of dust danced through the light that revealed a cramped pilot's seat. Rikku climbed in with a slight objection from Gippal, which she ignored. The prospect of playing with a new piece of machinery excited her. She began pushing buttons and experimenting with the control panels. From his vantage point right outside the door, Gippal gave his own suggestions and input. Together, the two somehow managed to bring the machina to life.

With a rumble, interior and exterior lights flickered on and a low hum generated from within the machina's power source. "Yes!" Rikku pumped a fist into the air and cracked her fist on the low ceiling. "Ow," she complained rubbing her knuckles.

Gippal chuckled as he put away the no longer needed flash sphere. His eyes flicked along the control panel taking in the foreign characters. He watched the way buttons lit up and shimmered on and off. A surge of giddiness swept through his body—he felt like a little kid again. Finally he could take it no longer. "Move over," he announced forcibly shoving his way into the hull alongside a suddenly cramped Rikku.

"Hey, are you stupid or something? There's only room for one person in here!" Rikku tried pushing him out, but to no avail. He merely pinned her arms behind her head and began examining the buttons from his new vantage point. He pushed on odd looking one and felt a tremble run through the floor. Rikku instantly ceased in her struggles and watched as the screens surrounding their heads started to shift and form different patterns. The machina groaned again and another heavier shifting was felt.

From the outside, Paine watched as the machina trembled and the wall surrounding it grew deep cracks. It began to crumble and waver under the pressure of the metal shell underneath it. _It's trying to rise,_ Paine realized and took a few steps backward.

The ground beneath her began to shake violently and Paine suddenly didn't feel very safe. She turned and threw herself down just in time as the wall suddenly gave and shards of rocks flew through the air. A few bounced off the steel feathers of Full Throttle, which effectively protected Paine. When the shaking stopped, she cautiously stood.

A pale Rikku and a disconcerted Gippal poked their own heads from the machina to examine the damage they inflicted. Rikku hopped down from the cabin and scrutinized the freed machina which was perched on six leg-like objects. She ran her hand over the joints and picked at the wiring flowing from the belly of the machina to the ends of it. She called out for Gippal, who was still in the pilot's seat, to push a myriad of buttons while studying their effect. The two Al-Bhed were so engrossed in their task that they didn't even notice the trickle of pyreflies oozing from a crack caused by the machina's shifting.

But Paine noticed it.

She watched in fascination as the stream of pyreflies seemed to drift in one line before heading in another definite direction. Her direction. The colored lights surrounded her and Paine felt an inexplicable sense of dread as the cloud circled her head. Suddenly, the river filled her and she was imbued with the odd sensation of having her mind searched.

Memories surfaced unbidden within her mind: Riding with Yuna and Rikku on the airship, recording Nooj and the others during their training for the Crimsin Squad, pickpocketing the odd foreigner in Luca as a childhood; probably someone come to watch blitzball, a certain conversation with one white-haired praetor of New Yevon…

That memory seemed to become dominant and whatever had intruded her mind seemed to find that picture particularly appealing. She felt it obsess on the details of Baralai's face as if memorizing the contents.

While this invasiveness was going on, Paine had shed her Full Throttle skin and was hunched over, head in hands as she tried to purge the intruder from her mind. She remained silent in her struggle fearing that whatever was in her would approach Gippal and Rikku if they came for her.

Something within Paine changed with a force that left her breathless. She opened her eyes (not even remembering closing them in the first place) and the first thing she saw upon opening them was Rikku crouched down in front of the machina, so involved in her work that she didn't even notice Paine.

A bizarre rage filled Paine and was directed right at poor Rikku who just happened to be in the line of her sight. Feelings of fury and intense hatred overtook her mind making her shake with the sheer might of the feeling. Blood clouded her vision as the world took on a red-tinged appearance. She stood and unsheathed the enormous sword at her side.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest; each pump sent more blood to fuel her wrathful frenzy. There was no cause for this emotion, it just simply _was._

Paine couldn't control herself as she strode forward, sword in hand and steadily rising above her head as she aimed her arc right down the center of Rikku's back.

AN: Really, I knew that Paine wasn't always particularly fond of Rikku…but this is just a little extreme! Anyway I would like to give a huge thank you to Angel Taisha who gave me such insightful and positive feedback. This chapter is dedicated to you. I'm deeply honored that you consider my story a "little gem." I believe that there's more to a fic, or anything really, than just plopping down those exhilarating moments. I believe that the story needs to be coaxed, like a shy puppy really, and the character should always be continuously built upon. There are certain things from FFX2 that we already know from the characters and I try to expound upon those. I find it more enjoyable than trying to create a completely unique story with original characters, probably because I'm so lazy and I don't feel up to creating something so complex from scratch.

But anyway, that's enough driveling. I hope I didn't put you all to sleep. Feedback is greatly appreciated and I thank all of you who have taken the time to do so.


	5. Chapter 5

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX-2 nor any of the characters.

Chapter 5

It sensed the presence of the three humans long before they reached the canyon's bottom. At first there were two, but then, just as magic, another appeared as if they had fallen off the edge of the cliff overhead.

_Perhaps that is exactly what happened,_ the thought penetrated Its groggy mind. And It knew that if the binding spell used hundreds of years ago to anchor the stolen fayth to its new location was still active (which it obviously was because It was still stuck in stasis), then the being who had fallen, who was currently be drawing closer to Its location, would not perish from the plunge.

It was not fully awake quite yet. Five hundred years of sleep was hard to pull one's self out of. But the sparkling souls moving ever so tantalizing nearer were enough incentive to rouse It. Because they were moving with as much ease as they were, It presumed the binding spell must be waning. A simple push from these fleshy humans could bring down the whole spell completely.

And then It would be free to exact Its revenge.

All It had to do was wait patiently. _As I've done for five hundred years,_ It thought. In truth, five hundred was truly an estimated guess of how many years It had been trapped in that canyon. Once every month, waters from the nearby ocean would get caught in a massive tide that would drag the water level up high enough so it could cross the dam created by a cliff, which jutted at an angle congruent to the canyon. The water's gentle lapping put a rift in Its sleep and every time It woke from this occurrence, It had tallied the months, and then the years. Three hundred years came and went before It became so tired that It only woke every six months. After the five hundredth year, It didn't wake again.

Until now.

They stopped right in front of Its location. Had It the ability, It could easily touch the minds of one of them and be free of this accursed place. They remained just before Its location for a long while. At one point two of the beings were actually within the wall of the canyon itself. And then, suddenly the very foundations of the walls were shaking horribly before they simply cracked. That was all it took to take down the binding spell. It spilled through the air with no direction, just relishing the feeling of movement.

But It didn't have time to enjoy Its freedom, not while there was information to be had and convenient suppliers to be perused.

It drifted languorously to the closest person. It entered their mind with effortless ease. Digging through a human mind was a complex undertaking. It kept get lost in the labyrinth of memories and trails of knowledge. But It was patient and It knew exactly what It was searching for.

Yevon.

The image of a man with a platinum mane and searing hazel eyes was drawn from the keyword. It was satisfied. Praetor Baralai of New Yevon. Had It a body with which to do so, It would have scoffed. Old or new, Yevon was Yevon. Traitorous, backstabbing, robbing, murderous…

Suddenly It didn't feel right.

As It dwelt on the very essence of Its being, It was becoming incorporated into Its human host. It felt Itself melting into the memories of the human. It was becoming one with the human. All the years of waiting would be lost if It was integrated into the mind of the human: It would just be a memory lost among thousands of other memories.

And so It disengaged from Its human prey, taking the bit of information needed with it. It floated into the direction calling to It: the Farplane. It wasn't traveling terribly fast, but what was a couple of weeks compared to the years It had spent in slumber?

Besides, soon Praetor Baralai would die, and Yevon along with it.

When the blade was inches away from ending Rikku's life, the invading force suddenly ceased its searching and hastily withdrew from Paine's mind. The hatred welling into her was quenched and Paine fairly threw her sword away from her body. She was shaking uncontrollably as she sank to her knees.

The pyreflies drifted out of her body and faded into the darkness above her head. As they parted, Paine's mind was filled with the strange image of a young girl with large blue-gray eyes. She was smiling happily at the warrior.

Finally sensing her presence, Rikku turned and looked at the trembling Paine warily. "What happened? Are you okay?" Rikku asked and reached out a comforting hand to place on her friend's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Paine shouted as she jumped up and stumbled backwards a few feet.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gippal poked his head back out from the machina when he heard Paine's outburst.

"I…" Paine tried to speak and found that she couldn't. She looked down at her hands; hands that had come so close to killing her friend. She looked back up at the pair with a horrified expression. Without another word, she exploded in a brilliant flash of light, slipping into her Full Throttle dress sphere once again. She launched herself mightily into the air and took off, offering no kind of explanation.

"Paine! Wait, where are you going!" Rikku's cries were fruitless as a retreating Paine paid them no heed.

"Any idea what's up with her?" Gippal asked after several moments of silence extended between the two.

"Something just happened to Paine, I don't know what it was, but we should probably get out of here as soon as possible so that we can try to find out," Rikku reasoned and redoubled her efforts at figuring out the machina before her.

Another ten minutes of toying with the control panel revealed that the craft could transform into a small hovering unit. Rikku climbed into the pilot's seat with Gippal and after a few not very reliable experiments, they ascended out of the canyon. Gippal found the boost panel, which caused their travel time to be cut in half.

Two and a half hours later, daylight blinded the pair. All through the trip they had mostly remained silent. Rikku alternated between worrying about Paine and blushing because she had to be seated in Gippal's lap seeing as how there was only one chair.

When the Al-Bhed emerged, one very angry Cid stormed over to meet them, "Damnit Gippal! I told both of you to just climb down that Yevon forsaken hole and then climb your asses right back up! What the hell were you two doing down there for so long, huh? And what the hell is this ton of steel shit doing up here with you? I specifically told ya'll to…" Rikku tugged on a very pale Gippal hardly fazed herself by her father's angry outburst.

"Just ignore him," she whispered into the younger man's ear. Looking back over her shoulder, she rolled her eyes and said, "Give it a rest, will ya Pops?"

Gippal cringed when Cid exploded in another fit of fury behind them. He lowered his head as he followed Rikku onboard the airship. _Great, now I'm sure to get kicked off the mission,_ he sighed.

When they reached the bridge, Rikku headed straight for the map area. "Paine?" She searched the map-reader's station, but the warrior was nowhere to be found.

"Your friend is not here," Brother clarified giving her a sideways look. "She jumped into the canyon right after we detected your flare in that crazy bird costume."

"But…didn't she come back here?" Rikku asked hesitantly.

"We haven't seen her since she left," Buddy joined in on the conversation.

"Where could she have gone…?" Rikku murmured under her breath as she looked into the horizon beyond the sea.

"What happened to you two down there anyway?" Buddy asked, arms crossed as he regarded Gippal who had slumped down into Paine's normal seat.

"You better not have touched my little sister," Brother whispered threateningly over Gippal's shoulder.

"Shut up!" Rikku stamped her foot and put on a very indignant expression although her cheeks turned a flaming red and thoughts of being perched in Gippal's lap ran circles through her mind. "It wasn't like that," she insisted shaking her head clear of the unwanted thoughts. "We were climbing, and then we fell…right into this force field…thing…which made us float through the air…and then we found this machina…and Paine just disappeared and…heh heh, why are all of you looking at me so funny?" Rikku asked scratching the side of her cheek with a sheepish look on her face.

"So what you're saying is…" Buddy scratched his own head in confusion.

"I don't get it," Brother declared and turned himself right back around in his seat so that he was facing outside.

Gippal now had his head placed squarely in between his knees and his arms hung loosely at his sides. _Poor guy,_ Rikku thought studying his sulking frame. She understood how the wrath of Cid could affect people although she had grown used to his antics a long time ago.

"It's quite simple really," another voice suddenly piped up from the tucked away bottommost corner of the bridge. Shinra had turned himself around in his seat. "Hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago when the fayth that was placed in the Cave of the Stolen Fayth was brought here to the Calm Lands, it needed to have a binding spell cast onto it to anchor it to its new home, otherwise it would have just disappeared and reappeared in its original temple. Obviously Rikku and Gippal were caught in the remnants of that spell. You guys are just lucky that the spell was so old, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to blink an eye. And the fact that you were able to fly that machina out of the canyon is evidence that the spell probably even dissipated somehow."

Everyone stared at Shinra in shocked silence. Finally Rikku snapped out of it. "How do you know all that?" she asked in amazement.

Shinra cocked his head to the side and tapped his fingers against his helmet. "I don't remember," he answered at last. When everyone groaned at his comments he just shrugged and turned back around using his, "Hey, I'm just a kid," excuse to push the attention away from him.

The wind drove itself into Paine's eyes as she surged through the air. Her heartbeat still hadn't steadied from the shock it had received not too long ago. _I almost killed her,_ the thought kept repeating in her mind like some kind of terrible mantra.

The Calm Lands sprawled beneath her. She wasn't really heading anywhere specifically, she was just trying to outrun the terrible realization of her almost acts. In the fading sunlight, the grass below had taken on a bluish tinge as the shadow from Mount Gagazet loomed over the land. In the distance, fiery orange and pink lights trailed the tranquil surface of the nearby ocean.

The scene of peace didn't fit Paine's tumultuous mood. She looked longingly toward the peaks of Mount Gagazet—one lone fortress standing on its own foundation against a cruel world. Nooj's words drifted lazily through her mind as she fixated on the mountain's jagged peaks. She was so entranced, she didn't even notice how the finer details of the mountain: a jutting peak here or a particular snowdrift there, suddenly became focused. It seemed as if the currents of air she was presently riding were urging her toward the solitary stronghold.

As she drew closer to the mountaintop, her breath began to exhale in steamy puffs. Her arms and legs lost their feeling as the cold seeped deep within her bones. Snowflakes from the eternal pile of clouds overhead gently caressed her cheeks and eyelids leaving frozen kisses along her skin. The icy environment slowed down her thought process, in fact, it felt as though time itself were giving pause just for this one weary soldier who needed a break from the hardships of reality.

She settled lightly into a pile of snow. The cold no longer reached her body, which had frozen in feeling as well as emotion, and so, to protect herself, instinct overtook and she transformed from the bulky mass of Full Throttle to the warmer outfit of her berserker dress sphere. Moments later, all coherent thought completely left her mind and she faded into unconsciousness.

When Paine awoke, she didn't want to move. Comforting warmth blanketed her body and heat washed over her exposed face. She stirred and settled more deeply into the folds of the cloth swaddling her. She turned her face toward the heat, her eyelids were so _heavy_, and she tottered back onto the edge of sleep and wakefulness.

Until she remembered that in her haste to get away from Rikku, she had certainly _not_ stopped at the airship to retrieve a bedroll like the one she was currently in. And the mountain she had perched her happy hide on was a wintry snow covered land all year long; where was that heat coming from?

She groaned and pried her heavy eyes open. Firelight danced before her blurry vision and she moaned again as she rubbed her eyes with her palms vigorously. She gingerly sat up and looked about the mini campsite. Her eyes fell on a very concerned looking Baralai who scrutinized her condition. Before she could think another thought, the former praetor had risen from his seat across from the fire and was at her side holding a steadying hand at her back as she struggled to stay upright. Turning her back slightly, she moved away from his touch. "I'm fine," she croaked and delicately fingered her temple where a throbbing headache was pounding on the inside of her skull.

Baralai ignored her assertion and helped her stay in her upright position until she was awake enough to do so on her own. He handed her a flask of water, which she greedily consumed. After minutes of awkward silence, Baralai said, "It appears we are always unexpectedly running into each other."

Finished with the water, Paine wiped her lip with the paw of her berserker outfit soaking up the dribble of water running down her chin. "What are you doing here?" she asked blatantly.

"I could be asking you the same question," Baralai responded with a grin. "But I won't."

Paine said nothing as she nursed the water. Baralai leaned back and settled on his elbows. "I'm traveling back from Zanarkand," he confided studying the star spangled night sky. "I decided that perhaps I could be of some use there. Before I left Bevelle, I spoke with Isaaru who mentioned that he had been protecting the holy grounds for Yuna. I thought maybe I could lend a hand to the cause." A ghost of a smile traced his tanned skin.

"Why did you come back?" Paine asked regarding him curiously.

"Honestly, I got lonely," Baralai responded and grinned sheepishly at the warrior. "Besides, those monkeys were guarding the temple well enough. I could hardly take a step without squishing them. And I'm pretty sure that I don't have one gil left to my name." Paine chuckled as she reminisced that episode. Rikku sure had a blast with that little mission, except for the fact that the monkeys kept biting her fingers.

The thought of Rikku sobered her effectively. Baralai noticed her tense mood and gave her a sideways look, but said nothing. As she studied the melting snow around the base of the fire, she felt a tremendous urge to confide in her Crimson Squad companion of years past. She swallowed the urge and tried to remain silent, but found herself opening her mouth to speak anyway. _Well, he_ did _admit that he was lonely,_ Paine reasoned knowing full well what a toll that confession had made on his ego. He _was_ a man after all. (AN: Don't kill me, Brandon, I just couldn't resist! )

"Something…happened to me in the canyon at the base of the Cave of the Stolen Fayth," Paine began.

"Yes, didn't you go with Gippal and the others to excavate the Calm Lands?" Baralai asked.

"How did you…never mind," she shook her head. The was _Baralai_ she was speaking to anyway. The I-could-charm-myself-into-right-out-of-the-gates-of-hell Baralai. No doubt he had extracted the information from some drunken sop at the party in Bevelle. "Anyway," she continued, "This swarm of pyreflies came out of the canyon wall and went inside of me, and I made a mistake." She placed her chin on her knees. "A mistake that nearly cost a friend their life."

Baralai was silent once again. Silent and thoughtful. When he looked back up at her, his eyes had a haunted expression to them. "Was it like…Shuyin?" The hesitancy in his voice gave away his fear.

"No," Baralai visibly relaxed, "This was not like another soul was invading my body. It was more like…some emotion just completely took over my senses." She looked across the firelight at Baralai. "Hatred."

Another silence passed between the pair as they both contemplated the significance behind Paine's experience. Baralai looked back up at Paine. "So your friend nearly died and you ran," he clarified.

"I nearly killed Rikku and I removed myself from the situation," Paine corrected Baralai coolly.

"But the near death of Rikku frightened you enough to make you feel you had to distance yourself," Baralai pondered. Certainly he knew that he was pushing her buttons.

"The fact that me, myself, _I_ almost killed someone whom I consider myself fairly close to. That is what caused me to leave. When there is a threat, you try to remove the danger before its causes harm," Paine reasoned between gritted teeth. What about the situation was so hard for Baralai to understand?

"But you said that you didn't kill Rikku," Baralai interjected. He had precariously tucked his arms behind his head and was now sprawled out on the ground. His indifferent position added fuel to Paine's glowing embers of frustration.

"Whatever was inside of me pulled out at the last second," she admitted.

"Yet instead of staying and trying to sort through what had just happened, you took off," Baralai said. There was no smugness, no jabbing at her bravery; he was simply pointing out facts.

Unfortunately, Paine's judgment was clouded with her aggravation. "I did not _take off_, I was trying to protect my friends." Her self-restraint was amazing. Considering the circumstances, a person of normal self-discipline would have smacked the nonchalant praetor right in his noggin by this point.

Sighing, Baralai rolled over on his side. He smiled and placed his hands palm-up in front of his chest. "All I'm trying to do is point out your inability to deal with death," he said.

Paine snorted at that comment. "Considering the legions of fiends and scores of certain New Yevon and Youth League followers that I have felled, that assertion is hardly valid," she replied.

Baralai grinned again with a boyish twinkle in his eyes. "I'm not talking about the death of those who cross you, I am talking about death that comes to those who are close to you," he said. When she just gave him a puzzled look, he rolled back onto his back and spoke as if he were speaking to a child. "I remember how distanced you were from everyone back in Bevelle. You were disconcerted because friends were parting company. I bet subconsciously this parting of ways was a symbolic death in itself. After all, if they aren't right before you they are dead in a way, am I wrong?" Paine didn't respond; she was probably trying to ignore him.

He pressed on nevertheless. "I suspect every time you say goodbye, you are actually preparing yourself to never see that person again."

"I've already discussed this with Nooj," Paine primly interjected. "He suggested that perhaps I just didn't know how to say goodbye. We already resolved that issue."

"Obviously the issue is not resolved if you are still running," Baralai pressed. Paine opened her mouth angrily to respond but then clamped it shut again. Instead she glared evenly at the pompous praetor. Baralai lifted his hand to his chin and stroked the glowing stubble as he continued with his musings. "The root of your problem is deeper than just not knowing _how_ to say goodbye. Goodbyes for you are symbolic deaths, so when you avert goodbyes, you are simultaneously averting death."

"Can you name for me one person who'd jump up at the opportunity to face death?" Paine asked dryly.

Baralai just shook his head, brushing aside her wry humor at the same time. "Your natural aversion is more aggressive than the average person," Baralai declared. He suddenly sat up from his position on the ground and examined Paine squarely in the eyes. "Something happened to you; something that made you afraid of the thought of death and everything associated with it." His expression softened as he held Paine's gaze. "What happened, Paine?" he asked in a gentle tone.

Paine tilted her head to the side in thought. "I honestly can't think of anything that would support the kind of emotional trauma you accuse me of carrying," Paine replied. "My mother died when I was young and my father left for reasons he carries with him wherever he may be now, but that hardly affected me. I've always been independent."

Baralai held her gaze a beat longer as he weighed her answer. Finally he stood brushing traces of snow from his pants. He stepped over to where Paine sat and extended his hand. "Whatever the case may be, let me help you Paine," he said with a tenderness that sent ripples of surprise coursing through her body.

Her natural, tough girl attitude wanted to tell him where he could stuff his theories about her and his "help," but a smaller, much neglected part of Paine jumped at the chance to let someone else share the load for a while. It really was becoming quite a burden and she felt that her back was beginning to fracture from the weight.

So instead of giving Baralai some kind of smart-ass reply, she bit her tongue and took his hand as her way of answering him.

AN: HOORAY! Finally, Baralai has been properly included in this story! Sorry it took so long, I had a hard time shoving into the plotline…

Anyway…I'd like to dedicate this chapter to someone very dear to my heart, my boyfriend! That sweetie took the time to read my story and even left me a review! He said he went through and wrote down everything that he really liked about my story and then wrote this long-ass review without realizing that there is a limit to the amount of space you can use for a review. But maybe this was for the better because he didn't realize that the reviews are an open forum where everyone in the world can read them, and I guess he kinda included some personal stuff in the original review…

So here's to you Shazi! I love you honey!


	6. Chapter 6

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Disclaimer: I do not own FFX-2 or any of its characters

Chapter 6

When morning light reflected colorful promises of strength and courage from the snowdrifts piling around the pair, Paine and Baralai began their descent down the mountain trail. "Where are we going?" Paine asked after thirty minutes of silent travel.

"I spoke with Elder Khimari once, before Shuyin completely possessed me. He had a proposition regarding the clan's cubs, Lian and Ayde. Before they ran off, they were expressing an intense interest in the world around them and Elder Khimari wanted to know if I knew of someone, a tutor of sorts, who would come to the mountain and train the pups to the ways of the world. Back then, everyone was so caught up in the conflict between New Yevon and the Youth League, I highly doubt anyone would've dropped their beliefs to go babysit a few Ronso children."

"But now you have a person in mind?" Paine asked mildly. Her right hand rested on the hilt of her sword and her left hand was tucked behind her back as she strode lazily along the mountain path. After being cooped on the airship, glued to a screen hosting a map, Paine was thoroughly enjoying the pure bliss of liquid movement.

"Yes, me," Baralai responded to her inquiry. His stride was also languorous and he seemed to be enjoying the crisp cool air of the sacred mountain.

Paine chuckled lightly. "Somehow, I have a hard time picturing you both as a babysitter and as a teacher."

"Why is that?" he asked tilting back his head to examine the cottony clouds overhead.

"You may have everyone else fooled, but I know how little patience you really possess. One repeated question from the little tykes would irritate you to no end," she replied.

Baralai was quiet for a moment. "Perhaps," he responded, his gaze latched to the air. He turned and looked at her for a moment before asking, "And what about you?"

Paine dropped both her hands to her sides and looked down at the ground around her feet. She hadn't really thought about whether she was really going to stay on the mountain or not. She had come here purely by instinct. Rikku and the others were probably worried; perhaps she should go back and let them know that she was all right…

The thought of facing Rikku after what she had nearly done to the girl sent cold shivers down her spine. The feeling aggravated Paine who did not like to act on emotions (she would rather forget she even possessed such weakening aspects). But at the same time, the pure dread that lanced her heart overwhelmed her feelings of aggravation enough that she didn't feel comfortable with going back to the Calm Lands. At all. At least not yet, anyway.

She sent a sidelong look at the former praetor who patiently awaited her reply. _Can he really help me?_ She wondered to herself. Mentally, she shrugged off the question. She didn't _need_ any help after all; she was fine by herself. All she needed was a little time to herself to sort through the situation. "I will talk to Elder Khimari," was her response. "Perhaps I can train for a while on the mountain. Alone." She annunciated the last word slightly. If Baralai took the hint, he didn't show it.

The two continued following the zigzagging snowy trails. Paine had changed back to her normal outfit before heading off. Staying in the berserker costume for too long sometimes made her feel like licking her paws and chasing her tail, which, being human she didn't really feel comfortable doing. The icy wind prickled the exposed sections of her skin sending goose bumps dancing along her flesh.

"Here," Baralai had taken off his outer robe and was handing her the article of clothing.

"I'm fine," Paine said brusquely, slightly unnerved by how acutely perceptive he was. She hid how she felt well, especially when it came to physical discomfort. Growing up an orphan, she had long ago learned the advantages of shrugging off bodily pains.

Baralai seemed nonplussed by Paine's rejection (which was a bit harshly denoted on her part), but neatly folded the jacket and hung it over his arm. "Why do you do that?" Paine asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Do what?" was Baralai's intelligent reply.

"You put on a show for everyone," Paine said gesturing to the jacket, which he had sacrificed for her sake. "Just because I am cold doesn't mean that you have to be as well."

"Ah, so you _are_ cold," Baralai replied with a smug grin.

Paine gave him a deadpan glare. "You seem so put together and oily smooth on the outside, but I'm not fooled, Baralai. No one is perfect, especially not you."

Baralai didn't let the grin slip from his face, but Paine could sense the twinge of hurt that suddenly glimmered in his eyes. She felt a little guilty. "I am by no means perfect," he said shifting his coat to his other arm. "I simply know what to say and how to say it."

"Why don't you just say what you want?" Paine asked brushing back a strand of hair that had fallen into her face.

"Because…" Baralai averted his gaze back to the sky overhead. "If I did that, then I'd be like you, and Spira can't handle more than one Paine at a time." He grinned sheepishly.

"Oh no you don't," Paine said catching his arm and stopping him in his tracks. She observed his amber eyes intently and snorted lightly. "You accuse me of being so emotionally unstable, yet look at yourself. You are so concerned about what everyone else thinks of you that you can't even speak your own mind."

The grin slipped from his face and shock replaced it. Paine doubted anyone had ever pushed an accusation of that magnitude into his face before; people were normally so dazzled by his charming smiles and silky words that they could hardly reach beyond the surface. Thinking back, Paine realized that Baralai had been the same way with all of his former Crimson Squad members. She had been so consumed with Nooj that she hadn't really noticed how distant the former praetor was, even to people he claimed a close bond to. She cocked her head to the side (in a fashion eerily akin to Rikku) and narrowed her eyes.

"You won't let anyone in, will you?" she asked as the pieces began to drop into place. "You've built a wall of mirrors around yourself, haven't you? You try to confuse people by their own reflections so that they won't notice the real you sitting inside."

Baralai's face had set into a grim line. So far he hadn't spoken a word, but now he did. "You assume to have me figured out, just like the rest of Spira! To everyone I'm either that man who tried to cover up lies and conspiracies, just like Yevon, or I'm the man who created the lies and conspiracies in Spira! Even when I was merely trying to protect people from getting hurt Nooj, Gippal; even _you_ assumed I was the source of the problem! Why would anyone want to get to know the traitor who nearly tore Spira to pieces!" Baralai's breathing had become slightly ragged as he ranted. He took a few more soothing breaths and looked at Paine who wore a triumphant grin as she let him calm down. He sighed and gazed down at his hands, which were fidgeting with the hem of the coat he still carried. "I guess I do kind of close myself off, don't I?" he admitted and met her gaze evenly.

"You don't have to push away _everyone_," she said. "We aren't _all_ out to get you, you know." Another few awkward moments passed between the pair who had paused in their trek to argue.

Baralai studied the morning sky and Paine studied the edge of the path, which dropped off into a very deep hole. Suddenly Baralai looked up again with his usual endearing smile, a bit more genuine this time. "I suppose we're both a couple of emotional basket cases, huh?" he asked. Apparently Paine wasn't the only one who was having epiphanies about her true nature. "Truce?" he offered the robe back to Paine who simply glared coldly at him. "Just take it!" he threw the article of clothing at her head and strolled onward.

Sunsets on the Calm Lands weren't anything spectacular (they certainly dimmed in comparison to the sunsets on the Mi'ihen Highroad), but when one was located at the far western side of the open plains, perched haphazardly on the edge of the sheer cliff that just dropped into the boiling waters of the ocean below, it wasn't half bad.

Rikku lazily swung her legs back and forth over the edge of the cliff as she studied swirling waters and jagged rock peaks reflecting shards of rubies and pink diamonds into the sky above. One leg actually sat atop the cliff side and sported the weight of her chin as she rested her head upon the limb. Absently, she played with the loose shoestrings of her boots as her thoughts gravitated around the center of one subject: Paine. Well, if she were totally honest with herself, there were actually two subjects that occupied her mind: both Paine and Gippal. But mainly she thought and worried about where the silent warrior had suddenly disappeared to.

And why was Gippal all of a sudden making it a point to always be at her side, practically from the moment she stumbled sleepily out of the bed, to the moment she sleepily stumbled right back in?

As if on cue, the crunching thuds of boots on gravel approached her from behind. She sighed inwardly. Once upon a time all this fuss and affection would've made her heart do acrobatic flips, but now, it was just _annoying_, perhaps because his gestures seemed so similar to the way Brother had treated her every day of her life. She felt Gippal's presence behind her, he paused a moment before settling down next to her. "You know, you probably shouldn't sit so close to the edge," Gippal said, worry threading his carefree tone.

"Yeah, well you shouldn't bother people who are trying to think!" Rikku responded and stuck out her tongue.

Gippal chuckled at the cute face she pulled. "Don't strain yourself," he replied earning himself a sound punch right on the shoulder. "Ow," he said rubbing the offended spot. "You know, I think you're putting a little bit of muscle on this puny little string you call an arm," he pinched the skin through the ribbons tied up the lengths of her arms.

Rikku pulled her arm back to her, crossed them and sat in a huff lapsing back into her quiet state. Gippal watched her a moment more before leaning back in his arms and looking out at the setting sun. "You've never been one who was able to keep your mouth shut," he said glancing back over her way. "What're you thinking about?"

Rikku shrugged. "Paine," she answered and went silent again.

"You know, Shinra and I have been analyzing the data from that day," he said, "It seems that right before Paine jumped in after us, the pyrefly concentration was growing exponentially. About the time we found that machina, the readings were off the chart. Maybe she saw a ghost and got spooked or something," he suggested.

Rikku shook her head, "That would definitely _not_ be like Paine," she said. "Besides, that wouldn't explain why she took off all of a sudden."

"Maybe she was too proud to admit that she got a little scared?" Gippal proposed.

"Nah," Rikku shook her head and went quiet again. Gippal studied her for another moment. Was it just his imagination, or did a faint hint of pink blush graze her cheeks?

"What?" Rikku snapped, meeting his gaze with her own fiery one. "You know, you've been acting pretty weird ever since that whole incident," she said.

"Oh yeah, how so?" Gippal challenged her with a smirk.

"Well for one, you are always following me around," she said. Gippal opened his mouth to retaliate but she gave him a pointed stare as to his current location.

"For another, you've been going way out of your way to be nice to me," she said causing Gippal to frown.

"Whaddya mean?" he asked, "I'm always nice to you!"

"Sure except when you liked to make fun of me in front of Brother and Buddy when we were little and you called me 'princess' in front of all the other kids!"

Gippal chuckled at the fond childhood memories. "Hey, give me a break, I was just a kid."

Rikku gave him a sly look. "I think you liked to poke fun at me back then because deep down you really liked me," she said sagely.

Gippal tilted his head to the side before cracking a smile, "Well, what if I did?" he asked.

Rikku, definitely flustered now opened her mouth, closed it again, opened it again and turned away, her whole face beet red. "Nice fish imitation," Gippal said flicking her ear, which was also red around the outer rim. Rikku didn't respond, she just huffed again and went back to sulking.

A silence wove its way between the pair; a silence that wasn't completely uncomfortable, but which still held unspoken words between them. Finally, Gippal broke the silence. "Do you remember that night in Bevelle?" he asked. Rikku crinkled up her nose, she remembered the smell quite distinctly, before nodding. "Well, I've never had anyone…take care of me the way you did that night," he said quietly. Rikku's eyes widened in surprise. "I've always been pretty much on my own," he continued referring to his past of being orphaned at a fairly advanced age, puberty to be exact, when it hit hardest. "Hell, Cid's been the most of any kind of father figure I've ever known, and we both know how poor of a role model that guy is," Rikku nodded in concurrence. "But that night, when you didn't leave my side…and then the next morning when you tried to stand up for me…I guess that I feel kind of indebted to you," he finished and flashed her a sheepish grin.

Rikku sighed and clenched her fists. "So you've been following me around and being extra nice to me because you feel _indebted_ to me?" she asked between gritted teeth. An unexpected anger boiled within her. She scoffed lightly before mumbling, "And here I thought you just cared about me."

"Hey," Gippal took both sides of her face in his hands and gently turned her head to face him. "Look at me," he commanded when her eyes were stiffly locked onto the ground below. She flickered her eyes to his face and he felt a slight jolt of shock when they glistened with a sheen of unshed tears. "Rikku…" he whispered suddenly at a loss for words.

"Don't," she pushed his hands away from her and stood up. "You have no idea what you do to me," she said. "You have no idea how hard I've always worked to try and make you smile, especially after your parents died. And when I could tell that you were thinking about them and your eyes were sad, a part of me just wanted to die. That night…in Bevelle…I bet you don't even remember how you held me and told me that I was the only one who made you truly happy," her voice cracked slightly, "and then to find out that you simply feel _indebted_ to me!" She cast her eyes to the ground praying that he wouldn't see the rivulets of tears swimming down her cheeks. "And in the gorge," she whispered, trembling slightly, "Right before I fell, right before I passed out, I didn't even care that I was probably going to die, all I could think about was how that stupid Divebeak was going to hurt you like it did

me."

This time, the silence between the two was heavy and pregnant with tension. Slowly, Rikku turned toward the airship. Her heart ached mostly because she had just bared her soul to the man who had somehow stolen it. When had these feelings grown so deep? She remembered having a small crush on the Al-Bhed when he was a boy, but until just then, when everything was thrown out on the line, she didn't realize just how far-reaching those innocent emotions had traveled.

Not that it mattered now. She inwardly grinned without humor. He probably wouldn't be shadowing her anymore.

A hand shot out and captured her wrist. "Don't leave just yet, please," Gippal's voice was thick and when Rikku looked at him in surprise, his expression was unreadable, expect for his eyes, which appeared…happy? "I remember what I said," he admitted. He moved closer and carefully placed both his hands on her upper arms cautiously sliding them around her frame until she was caught within his embrace. She returned the hug with a bit more hesitancy. "I didn't know…I thought all this time you just felt sorry for me…because of my past."

Rikku had leaned her head against his shoulder. "Stupid…" she mumbled relishing the smell of spices and dust embedded in his skin. Her own hands clasped together behind his back.

When he released his hold on her and leaned back, Rikku was so caught up in his tender gestures that she didn't even notice it when his hand gripped her chin, tilting her head slightly backwards. Her eyes did widen briefly when she realized that she could make out the finer details of his face: that dimple right above his left cheek, his good blue eye with its swirled pupil boring right through her thoughts (not that she really had any at this point). His lips grazed hers and any coherent thought she had miraculously held onto up until that point was swept away as the fiery rush of liquid sweetness coursed through her body. She felt lightheaded and faint as any remaining words left unspoken between the two Al-Bhed were suddenly bared, shared, and reciprocated.

Dreamily, a vision of both Yuna and Paine drifted through her mind. She had seen the former High Summoner with a smile on her face as brilliant as Rikku now felt. But Paine's haunted countenance snagged at her conscience.

Oh well, all she could do now was wish the warrior a portion of the happiness and peace she felt right then.

AN: Sorry, I simply could not help myself, I love Rikku and Gippal couplings! But, their tender moments _will_ have an impact on the story later on, I promise. After all, how else will Paine and Baralai realize what they're missing out on?

On a side note, does anyone absolutely _love_ Inuyasha like I do? I went out, bought the newest movie and watched it three times last night! Yes, I am a dork.

Also, I've started another game on FFX2 hoping to gather more insight into the character of everybody in the game and I realized that there isn't really an ocean beyond the cliffs of the Calm Lands; apparently that was just something I just made up in my head… But I will go back and edit out my little error in the other chapters later. It would probably be easier just to leave it in, but I am very firm on writing a fanfic in context with the game or show. I absolutely detest original characters and manipulations of the original landscapes simply to fit the author's whims. I enjoy the challenge of trying to create a story that is realistic within the bounds of the original world and I strongly feel like anything _added_ by the author to be a weakness in the plot.

But enough of my ranting. I have a question and anyone who answers it for me will forever have my gratitude: How in the world do you put breaks in between the scenes? I used to just use asterisks, but that was before started automatically editing out stuff like that and now I feel like the flow of my story is awkward and confusing. I would really appreciate any advice on this matter!


	7. Chapter 7

Redemption for a Weary Soldier

Disclaimer: I do not own FFX2 or an of its characters

Chapter 7

XX

The trail twisted and zigzagged along the rocky crevices of the ancient mountain. The pair of weary travelers had steadily descended the peaks for many hours. A full day had passed since Paine and Baralai spoke of things of importance. Now the words were frivolous and full of air.

It was almost enough to drive Paine insane.

Indeed, she felt thoroughly annoyed with the former Praetor now, mostly because he didn't seem to mind the cold, the trek, and her curt replies to his pointless inquiries. The inner reaches of Paine told her that this careful politeness was purposefully put forth to goad her into starting another argument. Or perhaps to speak of _something_ that mattered.

As if reading her thoughts, Baralai suddenly exclaimed, "Oh look, a cave! This one has footprints leading out of the entrance. Perhaps we are getting closer to the Ronso settlement."

"Or maybe some animal stupid enough to wander up here needed shelter," Paine replied.

"Yes, perhaps that too," Baralai responded with an easy grin.

Paine frowned. Why'd he always have to be so damn agreeable? "Or it could be an impossibly strong fiend that ate the whole Ronso tribe and now waits for its next prey."

His grin faltered slightly, favoring a more perplexed look as Baralai contemplated her suggestion and then his smirk reappeared. He chuckled, "Maybe, in which case hopefully the fact that I haven't had a proper bath since I left Zanarkand will turn its appeals away from myself."

The laugh escaped Paine before she could help it, but as soon as it left her mouth she clamped it down and forced a deep frown on her face. Unfortunately, perceptive as he was, he easily caught her chortle and smiled in an almost triumphant manner. He opened his mouth, probably to make some kind of comment about this, when a crunch like feet in snow was heard above them followed by a thud right behind them. A mighty roar shook the ground making the ensuing silence feel like a tremble of fear from the mountain itself.

Thoughts of Paine's predictions of fiends danced in her mind as she whirled around to face the threat. But instead of a scaly, feather clad, fire-breathing monster, one lone Ronso towered over them. The spear he clutched in his hands was pointed directly at Baralai's chest. "What business have you on mountain? Garik not let unworthy men pass without proving strength. Mountain entrust Garik to weed out weak. Prove to mountain and Garik you are worthy of passing."

"I have no quarrel with you or your mountain," Baralai responded. His pose remained quite calm for someone with a spear tip pointed at his chest. "I wish to speak to Elder Khimari," he said.

"Elder not speak with weaklings such as you! If you want pass, you must prove worth," the Ronso growled.

Paine had heard enough. This brash Ronso youth had already pushed her buttons with his thick-headedness in the past and his decision to show up during a time when she felt extreme discomfort…well, things did not bode well with her concerning Garik. She drew her huge sword and crossed it with the wooden shaft of his spear. "Let us pass," she fairly hissed.

"What is this? Man make own woman fight battles for him? Pathetic!" Garik growled at Baralai who had not moved from his position.

"I am nobody's 'woman,'" Paine seethed as she pulled her sword up hearing a satisfying _clang_ as it connected with the metal tip of the spear. "And I fight my _own_ battles." With speed that surprised the Ronso, she arced her sword under his spear, over her head, and brought the blade down toward him. He just managed to bring his spear up in time to block the blow from hitting his thick chest. Instead of retaliating and thrusting out with his spear as Paine had anticipated, he merely held his ground blocking her sword.

"Garik not fight women," he said retracting his weapon and pointing it back at Baralai who hadn't moved. "Women and children for protecting not fighting," he stated, though by his regarding glance over Paine, as one opponent sizing up another, his statement didn't hold its weight.

"If you feel that way why did you fight Yuna?" Paine asked bringing her blade back up to point at his own chest.

"That old Garik who fought Lady Yuna. New Garik honorable. New Garik seek to atone for foolish rage. New Garik follow true will of mountain, not own will forced upon mountain."

"Those are truly wise words," Baralai spoke up. He reached behind his back and unsheathed a large staff. As he brandished it, he stated, "I understand your need for atonement. I will fight you to prove my place on the mountain if it pleases you."

He brought the staff up with a sharp jab and whirled underneath Garik's spear as the Ronso brought it down to deflect his blow. Circling around the lion-like man, Baralai vaulted off the ground with his staff planting a boot squarely in Garik's nose. As he drew back, Baralai also paused for a breather. The two watched the other with cool gazes as they waited for an assault. Garik was the one to rush forward again surprising Paine, who unwillingly watched from the sidelines, with the speed and grace of his moves. Bearing such an incredible mass, she did not think the Ronso capable of such fluid movement.

Switching tactics to mimic that of Baralai, Garik brought the point of his spear into the ground and catapulted into the air. Baralai recognized the advance and thrust his staff straight overhead tangling in the airborne Ronso's feet and forcing him to flip awkwardly to the left. Baralai caught the Ronso when he landed directly in the ribs. With a grunt Garik sprang backwards a few feet clutching his chest. After another round of testing stares, the two sprang almost in unison toward the other; both had their weapons drawn up to chest level as they approached one another. At the last second, however, Garik bent forward and neatly rolled out of the reach of Baralai's deadly arc. The Ronso thrust the wooden shaft of his spear forward catching Baralai around the knees and causing him to fall.

Time seemed to slow down for Paine as she watched Garik spring into the air bringing the gleaming point of his spear toward Baralai's heart as he dived downward. She only half noticed the lack of fear in Baralai's hazel gaze as he observed his attacker ready to deliver the deathblow.

A blow that never came.

A resounding clash of metal on metal rang throughout the mountainside as Paine's blade sprung, seemingly of its own accord through the air to intercept Garik's spearhead. Taking advantage of Garik's surprise, Paine deftly kicked the Ronso in the side forcing him to stumble backwards a few feet. Dashing after him, she raised her own sword and cut downward in a line to his vulnerable belly. Having gathered his wits, however, the Ronso also brought his spear up and just managed to block Paine's attack. The two wrestled with their weapons trying to overpower the other. Paine thought she heard Garik mutter through her battle hazed mind something about a woman being surprisingly strong, but she didn't pay attention as she was forced to switch tactics. She _was_ very strong for a woman of her stature, but she was still no match for a Ronso.

Dropping to her knees, she dive rolled to the side and jammed her foot into Garik's backside as he staggered forward from the sudden disappearance of resistance from the other end of his spear. Now on his knees, Paine took the advantage and sprang into the air intending to drive her blade below her. Garik anticipated her motives however and instead of standing and receiving a blade through his back, he rolled and shot his foot into the air catching Paine in the stomach and hurtling her away from him.

Paine felt the foot connect with her stomach as she flew through the air. Black spots danced along the edges of her vision and when she landed with a thud she was hard pressed to scramble to her feet, not being able to take in any oxygen at the moment. She held out her sword before her and glared defiantly at the Ronso who was only just climbing to his feet. He seemed winded as well.

"THAT ENOUGH!"

Both Garik and Paine's head whipped around for the source of the command. A little ways further down the path that Baralai and Paine had only minutes before travelled stood a Ronso with a broken horn. Khimari.

"Elder!" Garik immediately dropped his spear subsequently forgetting about Baralai and Paine. Coming before the short Ronso, Garik brought one fist to his chest and raised the other hand in greeting.

"Garik did well to protect mountain. Khimari pleased with Garik. Garik may go home now," Khimari spoke with to the taller Ronso who nodded and began strolling back down the mountain trail.

Paine, Baralai, and Khimari watched the retreating Ronso's back a few moments more before Khimari regarded the other two. Paine still stood where she was, sword drawn though now pointing toward the ground. Baralai was in the process of standing and putting away his own staff, sheathing it in his belt behind his back.

Khimari nodded slightly toward Baralai and motioned for the two to follow him. "Come, we talk in village," he said and Paine and Baralai wordlessly followed.

XX

The "village" Khimari referred to was actually a network of caves located closer toward the base of the mountain. Khimari brought Paine and Baralai to the clearing at the bottom of the mountain trail where his female attendant silently awaited him.

Khimari bowed to each of them. "Baralai, Praetor of New Yevon, Paine, friend of Yuna, what bring you to Ronso mountain?"

"I am no longer Praetor," Baralai proclaimed stepping forward first. "I came to speak with you regarding the education of the Ronso cubs Lian and Ayde. If you would like, I would be honored to teach them everything I know." He bowed at the end of his announcement.

_Liar,_ Paine thought.

Khimari considered Baralai as he thoughtfully scratched the bottom of his bearded chin. "Lian and Ayde have much to learn about ways of Spira. Education and future as Elders are linked, this Khimari knows without doubt. But cubs need more than education," he observed Baralai who politely held the elder Ronso's stare. "Cubs need understand situations in Spira's past, situations that cause hatred and evil. Cubs need learn that Spira is one no matter what others before them think."

Baralai nodded slowly understanding written into the chiseled features of his face. "Yes, it is important that the cubs are raised with a knowledge of all the cultures of Spira so they don't fear those who differ from them."

"Khimari agree, fear cause senseless hatred which bring evil and death to Spira. Baralai will teach Lian and Ayde history of Spira." The Ronso turned to his attendant. "Bring water and food for guests," he ordered and the woman nodded before disappearing around the bend of the mountain trail.

"Now, what bring Paine, friend of High Summoner Yuna to Ronso mountain home?" he asked turning to the stoic warrior.

"I wish to train on the mountain," she said and tried to gauge what the Ronso was thinking by his weighty gaze cast her way.

"Khimari not think Paine need training. Paine handled herself well against Garik, strongest of Ronso warriors. What training could mountain possibly provide to improve Paine's skills?"

"I wish to train my spirit." The words were out of Paine's mouth before she could stop them. It was as if Khimari had the power to draw the truth from any who dared cross paths with him. It was probably a trait that came with the position of "Elder."

A ghost of a smile reached the curve of Khimari's muzzle. "Yes, spirit needs much training, more even than body. Mountain excellent training source for spirit." The smile turned into a smirk and a glimmer of slyness winked out of Khimari's golden eyes. Suddenly Paine felt the urge to flee.

"Khimari make pact with Paine," he said with such finality that Paine thought any other gesture besides a tentative nod would be unwelcome. "Cubs have ways of finding adventures out of careful bounds Ronso put up. Khimari rest easier knowing someone with skills and strength were there to watch them. Paine may stay and train on mountain if she follow and protect cubs."

"Wouldn't you rather have someone from your tribe, maybe Garik?" Paine asked though she already knew she had somehow dug herself into another hole.

"Garik job to protect mountain and weed weak from surface. Besides, cubs must learn to appreciate first hand other cultures if Ronso want to survive in years to come."

Paine sighed. That feeling of being cornered returned a hundredfold as she bleakly nodded her head in ascension. Why did she suddenly feel so Yunaish?

XX

Night fell swiftly across the mountain. Baralai and Paine had been provided with their own "quarters," small caves including bedding made of various scraps of fur and a flap of leather concealing the entranceway of the small cave. Paine found no reason to complain about the lack of space. She didn't plan on spending much more time in the cave than the necessary few hours needed for sleep. In fact, she was currently poised on a jutting overhang perched over the Ronso settlement. She watched as small cooking fires flickered against the dark shadows of the night hiding within the crevices of the mountain wall. From her post, a small pool of moonlight filtered through the crags and rocky protrusions of the mountain.

She was still trying to come to grips with the whirlwind flurry of changes that had barraged her life. From Crimson Squad member to sphere hunter to deadly machine slayer to map reader and finally to Ronso cub babysitter…

She tossed her head lightly trying to dislodge the thoughts. _One thing at a time,_ she told herself. Tomorrow she would deal with the Ronso cubs. Tonight, she would sleep and plan her meditative training.

Soft footfalls announced her visitor before a hand was placed on her shoulder. She nodded a greeting to Baralai as he sat next to her. "I brought you food from the traveling pack. I noticed that you didn't eat any of the food the Ronso brought you. Certainly it is…different, but eventually you will grow used to it." He offered the dried meats and fruits to her, but she shook her head.

"I did not eat because I am not hungry, Baralai," she proclaimed.

Baralai did not seem offended in the least. He simply pocketed the food. "Another time, then," he said of the morsels and the pair fell quiet as they watched the lethargic activity below. "I'm curious," Baralai said after several minutes of silence had ensued. "Why did you fight Garik?"

Paine frowned. "Would you have rather I let him kill you?" she asked with a slight dullness in her voice indicating that she thought his question quite stupid.

Baralai merely grinned and shook his head. "Garik was not going to kill me," he said. "His job is to prevent those without the strength to climb the mountain from doing so. You know, lest they hurt themselves."

"Well, the gesture seemed quite pointless considering we've already trekked the whole mountain," Paine responded.

"Yes, and Khimari did say that Garik's strong point was strength, not thinking." He chuckled a little. "Besides, he was putting on a more, _ferocious_ show than was necessary." Giving Paine a sidelong look, he said, "If you ask me, I think he was trying to impress one of us."

Paine laughed jerkily again as if the thought of the hulking form of Garik fighting with all his might were truly a show put on merely for her benefit. Surely not…Paine paled slightly.

"It seems we will be working together over the next few weeks," Baralai broke through her thoughts. He chuckled as he said, "You said I have no patience for babysitting a few Ronso cubs, but I highly doubt you possess much more fortitude when it comes to youngsters than I do. I predict that their antics will put you on edge in very little time."

"Perhaps I have to deal with their _antics_, but you still have to answer their questions. Every single one," Paine retorted feeling highly satisfied when Baralai's face dropped from its smirk.

He tilted his head back and watched the small square of stars that managed to find their way down the mountainside. "In all honesty, I am quite relieved to be here," he said. "Mount Gagazet has always held a certain appeal for me. Even though socializing came with the job of being Praetor, I often wished for solitude. Sometimes the company interfered with my thoughts and they just scattered from my head like so many birds from a cat."

Paine tilted her head and gave him an inquisitive look. "Did my ears just deceive me, or did you actually just tell me something personal?" she asked and smirked playfully.

Baralai didn't seem to mind, but merely shrugged his shoulders. Paine sighed and rested her weight on the palms of her hands. Her smirk disappeared. "I never truly put that day out of my mind." She didn't need to expound upon the "day" as Baralai silently understood it to mean the day the Crimson Squad split up. "I had convinced myself that we were never all going to be with each other again. But then when we all became tangled in the situation with Vegnagun…it was very awkward for me. I had convinced myself that I would never see any of you again, and then to suddenly be fighting alongside all of you…"

"Or to be fighting against all of you," Baralai interjected causing Paine to desist the subject. Baralai was obviously quite touchy when it came to the matter of Shuyin.

Neither of the two felt any more need for words, and so they bid each other good night and parted ways. As Paine strolled the curving pathway hidden between the walls of rock when the frame of a hulking body, namely one Ronso Garik, suddenly obstructed her trail.

"You are in my way," Paine said with an icy undertone. She made to sidestep the Ronso but was blocked by a thick arm.

Garik leaned close and peered into her glaring eyes. His face was so close to hers she could feel the feline whiskers brushing her cheeks. Anger burned in the pit of her stomach as he continued to invade her personal space. He sniffed the air around her head breathing deeply as if tasting her scent. A low growl emanated from Paine's throat and her fist tightened around the blade of her sword.

Just as her fist tensed to draw the blade and stick it straight into the face of her invader, he was suddenly gone. He simply turned heel and disappeared as though nothing at all had happened.

Baralai's earlier allegation drifted a lazy circle through her mind, causing her body to convulse in shudders, before she put the situation out of her mind.

XX

AN: My apologies right now if this chapter seemed a little awkward to you. It was probably the most difficult chapter thus far because it is such a transition for me going from the point where I know what's going to happen to the point where it's kind of becoming up to the characters. In any case, things do not look good for poor Paine: a nagging former Praetor, two troublesome cubs, and a Ronso warrior who suddenly feels the need to sniff her at odd hours of the night. Heh heh, things are bound to get interesting.

Review please!


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